ON  THE  BORDER 
WITH  CROOK 


-JOHN-G-BOURKE 


BANCROFT 

LIBRARY 
<• 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


e 


GENERAL  GEORGE  CROOK. 


ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK 


JOHN    G-r^OURKE,  I? 

CAPTAIN  THIBD  CAVALRY,  U.  8.  A. 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW   YORK 
CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 

1891 


COPYRIGHT,  1891,  BY 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


Press  of  J.  J.  Little  &  Co. 
Astor  Place,  New  York 


UD..ARY 


TO  FRANCIS  PARKMAN, 

whose  learned  and  graceful  pen  has  illustrated  the  History, 
Traditions,  Wonders  and  Resources  of  the  Great  West,  this 
volume, — descriptive  of  the  trials  and  tribulations,  hopes  and 
fears  of  brave  officers  and  enlisted  men  of  the  regular  Army, 
who  did  so  much  to  conquer  and  develop  the  empire  beyond  the 
Missouri, — is  affectionately  inscribed  by  his  admirer  and  friend, 

JOHN  G.  BOURKE. 

Omaha,  Nebraska, 
August  12, 


PKEFACE. 

THEEE  is  an  old  saw  in  the  army  which  teaches  that  you  can 
never  know  a  man  until  after  having  made  a  scout  with  him  in 
bad  weather.  All  the  good  qualities  and  bad  in  the  human  make 
up  force  their  way  to  the  surface  under  the  stimulus  of  privation 
and  danger,  and  it  not  infrequently  happens  that  the  comrade 
who  at  the  military  post  was  most  popular,  by  reason  of  charm  of 
manner  and  geniality,  returns  from  this  trial  sadly  lowered  in  the 
estimation  of  his  fellows,  and  that  he  who  in  the  garrison  was 
most  retiring,  self -composed,  and  least  anxious  to  make  a  display 
of  glittering  uniform,  has  swept  all  before  him  by  the  evidence 
he  has  given  of  fortitude,  equanimity,  courage,  coolness,  and  good 
judgment  under  circumstances  of  danger  and  distress.  But, 
whether  the  maxim  be  true  or  false,  it  is  hardly  too  much  for  me 
to  claim  a  hearing  while  I  recall  all  that  I  know  of  a  man  with 
whom  for  more  than  fifteen  years,  it  was  my  fortune  to  be  inti 
mately  associated  in  all  the  changing  vicissitudes  which  consti 
tuted  service  on  the  "border"  of  yesterday,  which  has  vanished 
never  to  return. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  write  a  biography  of  my  late  friend 
and  commander — such  a  task  I  leave  for  others  to  whom  it  may 
be  more  congenial ;  speaking  for  myself,  I  am  compelled  to  say 
that  it  is  always  difficult  for  me  to  peruse  biography  of  any  kind, 
especially  military,  and  that  which  I  do  not  care  to  read  I  do  not 
care  to  ask  others  to  read.  In  the  present  volume,  there  will  be 
found  collected  descriptions  of  the  regions  in  which  the  major 


vj  PREFACE. 

portion  of  General  Crook's  Indian  work  was  carried  on;  the  people, 
both  red  and  white,  with  whom  he  was  brought  into  contact ;  the 
difficulties  with  which  he  had  to  contend,  and  the  manner  in 
which  he  overcame  them ;  and  a  short  sketch  of  the  principles 
guiding  him  in  his  justly  famous  intercourse  with  the  various 
tribes— from  British  America  to  Mexico,  from  the  Missouri  River 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean — subjugated  by  him  and  afterwards  placed 
under  his  charge. 

A  military  service  of  nearly  forty  consecutive  years — all  of 
which,  excepting  the  portion  spent  in  the  civil  war,  had  been  face 
to  face  with  the  most  difficult  problems  of  the  Indian  question, 
and  with  the  fiercest  and  most  astute  of  all  the  tribes  of  savages 
encountered  by  the  Caucasian  in  his  conquering  advance  across 
the  continent — made  General  Crook  in  every  way  worthy  of  the 
eulogy  pronounced  upon  him  by  the  grizzled  old  veteran,  General 
William  T.  Sherman,  upon  hearing  of  his  death,  that  he  was  the 
greatest  Indian-fighter  and  manager  the  army  of  the  United 
States  ever  had. 

In  all  the  campaigns  which  made  the  name  of  George  Crook  a 
beacon  of  hope  to  the  settler  and  a  terror  to  the  tribes  in  hostility, 
as  well  as  in  all  the  efforts  which  he  so  successfully  made  for  the 
elevation  of  the  red  man  in  the  path  of  civilization  and  which 
showed  that  Crook  was  not  a  brutal  soldier  with  no  instincts  save 
those  for  slaughter,  but  possessed  of  wonderful  tenderness  and 
commiseration  for  the  vanquished  as  well  as  a  most  intelligent 
appreciation  of  the  needs  and  capabilities  of  the  aborigines,  I  was 
by  his  side,  a  member  of  his  military  staff,  and  thus  obtained  an 
insight  into  the  charms  and  powers  of  a  character  which  equalled 
that  of  any  of  the  noble  sons  of  whom  our  country  is  so  justly 
proud. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

OLD  CAMP  GRANT  ON  THE  RIO  SAN  PEDRO — DAILY  ROUTINE  OF  LIFE — 
ARCHITECTURE  OF  THE  GILA — SOLDIERS  AS  LABORERS — THE  MESCAL 
AND  ITS  USES — DRINK  AND  GAMBLING — RATTLESNAKE  BITES  AND  THE 
GOLONDRINA  WEED — SODA  LAKE  AND  THE  DEATH  VALLEY — FELMER 
AND  HIS  RANCH. 1 

CHAPTER  II. 

STRANGE  VISITORS — SOME  APACHE  CUSTOMS — MEXICAN  CAPTIVES — SPEEDY 
AND  THE  GHOST — THE  ATTACK  UPON  KENNEDY  AND  ISRAEL'S  TRAIN 
— FINDING  THE  BODIES — THE  DEAD  APACHE — A  FRONTIER  BURIAL — 
HOW  LIEUTENANT  YEATON  RECEIVED  HIS  DEATH  WOUND — ON  THE 
TRAIL  WITH  LIEUTENANT  GUSHING — REVENGE  IS  SWEET.  .  .  .17 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  RETURN  TO  CAMP  GRANT — LANCED  TO  DEATH  BY  APACHES — THE  KILL 
ING  OF  MILLER  AND  TAPPAN — COMPANY  QUARTERS — APACHE  CAPTIVES 
— THE  CLOUD-BURST — APACHE  CORN-FIELDS — MEETING  COLONEL  SAN- 
FORD — ENTRAPPED  IN  AN  APACHE  AMBUSCADE — AN  OLD-TIMER'S  REM 
INISCENCES  OF  TUCSON — FUNERAL  CROSSES  ON  THE  ROADSIDE — PADRE 
EUSEBIO  KINO — FIRST  VIEW  OF  TUCSON — THE  "  SHOO  FLY"  RESTAU 
RANT. 34 

CHAPTER  IV. 

SOME  OF  THE  FRIENDS  MET  IN  OLD  TUCSON — JACK  LONG — HIS  DIVORCE — 
MARSHAL  DUFFIELD  AND  "WACO  BILL" — "THEM  'ERE'S  MEE  VISITIN* 

KEE-YARD" — JUDGE  TITUS  AND  CHARLES  o.  BROWN — HOW  DUFFIELD 

WAS   KILLED — UNCLE    BILLY    N AND    HIS    THREE   GLASS  EYES — AL. 

GARRETT — DOCTOR   SEMIG  AND  LIEUTENANT   SHERWOOD— DON  ESTEVAN 
OCHOA — BISHOP  SALPOINTE — PETE   KITCHEN  AND   HIS   RANCH.         .  .      66 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE  DIVERSIONS  OF  TUCSON — THE  GAMBLING  SALOONS — BOB  CRANDALL 
AND  HIS  DIAMOND — "  SLAP-JACK  BILLY" — TIGHT-ROPE  WALKERS — THE 
THEATRE— THE  DUENAS — BAILES — THE  NEWSPAPERS — STAGE-DRIVERS.  80 


yiii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  VI. 

TUCSON  INCIDENTS— THE  "  FIESTAS  "—THE  RUINED  MISSION  CHURCH  OF 
SAN  XAVIER  DEL  BAC— GOVERNOR  SAFFORD— ARIZONA  MINES— APACHE 
RAIDS— CAMP  GRANT  MASSACRE— THE  KILLING  OF  LIEUTENANT  CUSH- 
ING •  .  .  96 

CHAPTER  VII. 

GENERAL  CROOK  AND  THE  APACHES— CROOK'S  PERSONAL  APPEARANCE  AND 
CHARACTERISTICS— POINTS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  APACHES— THEIR 

SKILL    IN    WAR — FOODS    AND     MODES    OF    COOKING MEDICINE     MEN — 

THEIR   POWER  AND   INFLUENCE. 108 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
CROOK'S  FIRST  MOVEMENTS  AGAINST  THE  APACHES — THE  SCOUTS — MIRAGES 

— THE  FLORAL  WEALTH  OF  ARIZONA — RUNNING  IN  UPON  THE  HOSTILE 
APACHES — AN  ADVENTURE  WITH  BEARS — CROOK'S  TALK  WITH  THE 
APACHES — THE  GREAT  MOGOLLON  PLATEAU — THE  TONTO  BASIN — MONTE- 
ZUMA'S  WELL — CLIFF  DWELLINGS — THE  PACK  TRAINS.  .  .  .  136 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  PICTURESQUE  TOWN  OF  PRESCOTT — THE  APACHES  ACTIVE  NEAR  PRES- 
COTT — "TOMMY"  BYRNE  AND  THE  HUALPAIS  —  THIEVING  INDIAN 
AGENTS — THE  MOJAVES,  PI-UTES  AND  AVA-SUPAIS — THE  TRAVELS  OF 
FATHERS  ESCALANTE  AND  GARCES — THE  GODS  OF  THE  HUALPAIS — THE 

LORING  MASSACRE — HOW  PHIL  DWYER  DIED  AND  WAS  BURIED — THE 
INDIAN  MURDERERS  AT  CAMP  DATE  CREEK  PLAN  TO  KILL  CROOK — 
MASON  JUMPS  THE  RENEGADES  AT  THE  "  MUCHOS  CANONES " — DELT- 
CHE  AND  CHA-LIPUN  GIVE  TROUBLE — THE  KILLING  OF  BOB  WHITNEY.  158 

CHAPTER  X. 

CROOK  BEGINS  HIS  CAMPAIGN — THE  WINTER  MARCH  ACROSS  THE  MOGOLLON 
PLATEAU — THE  GREAT  PINE  '  BELT — BOBBY-DOKLINNY,  THE  MEDICINE 
MAN — COOLEY  AND  HIS  APACHE  WIFE — THE  APACHE  CHIEF  ESQUINOS- 
QUIZN — THE  APACHE  GUIDE  NANAAJE — THE  FEAST  OF  DEAD-MULE 
MEAT — THE  FIGHT  IN  THE  CAVE  IN  THE  SALT  RIVER  CANON — THE 
DEATH-CHANT — THE  CHARGE — THE  DYING  MEDICINE  MAN — THE  SCENE 
IN  THE  CAVE 176 

CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  CAMPAIGN  RESUMED — EFFICIENCY  OF  APACHE  SCOUTS — JACK  LONG 
BREAKS  DOWN — A  BAND  OF  APACHES  SURRENDER  IN  THE  MOUNTAINS 
—THE  EPIZOOTIC — THE  TAYLOR  MASSACRE  AND  ITS  AVENGING — THE 


CONTENTS.  jx 

PAGE 

ARIZONA  ROLL  OF  HONOR,  OFFICERS,  MEN,  SURGEONS,  SCOUTS,  GUIDES, 
AND  PACKERS — THE  STRANGE  RUIN  IN  THE  VERDE  VALLEY — DEATH 
OF  PRESILIANO  MONJE — THE  APACHES  SURRENDER  UNCONDITIONALLY 
TO  CROOK  AT  CAMP  VERDE. 202 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  CIVILIZING  THE  APACHES — THE  WORK  PERFORMED  BY 
MASON,  SCHUYLER,  RANDALL,  RICE,  AND  BABCOCK — TUCSON  RING  IN 
FLUENCE  AT  WASHINGTON — THE  WOUNDING  OF  LIEUTENANT  CHARLES 
KING — THE  KILLING  OF  LIEUTENANT  JACOB  ALMY — THE  SEVEN  APACHE 
HEADS  LAID  ON  THE  SAN  CARLOS  PARADE  GROUND — CROOK'S  CASH 
MARKET  FOR  THE  FRUITS  OF  APACHE  INDUSTRY— HIS  METHOD  OF 
DEALING  WITH  INDIANS 215 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  CLOSING  DAYS  OF  CROOK'S  FIRST  TOUR  IN  ARIZONA — VISIT  TO  THE 
MOQUI  VILLAGES — THE  PAINTED  DESERT — THE  PETRIFIED  FORESTS — 
THE  GRAND  CANON — THE  CATARACT  CANON — BUILDING  THE  TELEGRAPH 
LINE — THE  APACHES  USING  THE  TELEGRAPH  LINE — MAPPING  ARIZONA 

— AN  HONEST  INDIAN  AGENT — THE  CHIRICAHUA  APACHE  CHIEF,  COCHEIS 
— THE  "HANGING"  IN  TUCSON — A  FRONTIER  DANIEL — CROOK'S  DE 
PARTURE  FROM  ARIZONA — DEATH  VALLEY — THE  FAIRY  LAND  OF  LOS 
ANGELES — ARRIVAL  AT  OMAHA.  .  .  .  .  .  .  230 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  PLATTE — THE  BLACK  HILLS  DIFFICULTY — THE 
ALLISON  COMMISSION — CRAZY  HORSE  AND  SITTING  BULL — THE  FIRST 
WINTER  CAMPAIGN — CLOTHING  WORN  BY  THE  TROOPS — THE  START  FOR 
THE  BIG  HORN — FRANK  GRUARD,  LOUIS  RICHAUD,  BIG  BAT,  LOUIS 
CHANGRAU,  AND  OTHER  GUIDES.  .  .  .  •  •  •  241 

CHAPTER    XV. 

MOVING  INTO  THE  BIG  HORN  COUNTRY  IN  WINTER — THE  HERD  STAMPEDED 
—A  NIGHT  ATTACK— "JEFF'S"  OOZING  COURAGE— THE  GRAVE- YARD  AT 
OLD  FORT  RENO — IN  A  MONTANA  BLIZZARD — THE  MERCURY  FROZEN 
IN  THE  BULB — KILLING  BUFFALO — INDIAN  GRAVES — HOW  CROOK 

LOOKED   WHILE    ON    THIS    CAMPAIGN— FINDING    A    DEAD    INDIAN'S    ARM 

nxa 

—INDIAN   PICTURES.  .  .  .  .  •  •  •  •    * 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

THE  ATTACK  UPON  CRAZY  HORSE'S  VILLAGE — THE  BLEAK  NIGHT  MARCH 
ACROSS  THE  MOUNTAINS — EGAN's  CHARGE  THROUGH  THE  VILLAGE — 


x  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

STANTON  AND  MILLS  AND  SIBLEY  TO  THE  RESCUE — THE  BURNING 
LODGES — MEN  FROZEN — THE  WEALTH  OF  THE  VILLAGE— RETREATING 
TO  LODGE  POLE  CREEK — CROOK  REJOINS  US — CUTTING  THE  THROATS 
OF  CAPTURED  PONIES. 270 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

THE  SUMMER  CAMPAIGN  OF  1876— THE  SIOUX  AND  CHEYENNES  GETTING 
UGLY— RAIDING  THE  SETTLEMENTS — ATTEMPT  TO  AMBUSCADE  CROOK — 
KILLING  THE  MAIL-RIDER — THE  STORY  OF  THE  FETTERMAN  MASSACRE 
— LAKE  DE  SMET — OUR  FIRST  THUNDERSTORM — A  SOLDIER'S  BURIAL — 
THE  SIOUX  ATTACK  OUR  CAMP — TROUT-FISHING — BEAR-HUNTING — 
CALAMITY  JANE — THE  CROW  AND  SHOSHONE  ALLIES  JOIN  THE  COM 
MAND — THE  WAR  DANCE  AND  MEDICINE  SONG.  .....  283 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

THE  COLUMN  IN  MOTION — RUNNING  INTO  A  GREAT  HERD  OF  BUFFALOES — 
THE  SIGNAL  CRY  OF  THE  SCOUTS— THE  FIGHT  ON  THE  ROSEBUD— HOW 
THE  KILLED  WERE  BURIED — SCALP  DANCE — BUTCHERING  A  CHEY 
ENNE — LIEUTENANT  SCHUYLER  ARRIVES — SENDING  BACK  THE  WOUNDED.  307 

CHAPTER    XIX. 

KILLING  DULL  CARE  IN  CAMP — EXPLORING  THE  SNOW-CRESTED  BIG  HORN 
MOUNTAINS — FINERTY  KILLS  HIS  FIRST  BUFFALO — THE  SWIMMING  POOLS 
— A  BIG  TROUT — SIBLEY'S  SCOUT — A  NARROW  ESCAPE — NEWS  OF  THE 
CUSTER  MASSACRE — THE  SIOUX  TRY  TO  BURN  US  OUT — THE  THREE 
MESSENGERS  FROM  TERRY — WASHAKIE  DRILLS  HIS  SHOSHONES — KELLY 
THE  COURIER  STARTS  TO  FIND  TERRY — CROW  INDIANS  BEARING  DE 
SPATCHES — THE  SIGN-LANGUAGE — A  PONY  RACE — INDIAN  SERENADES — 
HOW  THE  SHOSHONES  FISHED — A  FIRE  IN  CAMP — THE  UTES  JOIN  US.  323 

CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  JUNCTION  WITH  MERRITT  AND  THE  MARCH  TO  MEET  TERRY — THE 
COUNTRY  ON  FIRE — MERRITT  AND  HIS  COMMAND — MR.  "GRAPHIC" — 
STANTON  AND  HIS  "  IRREGULARS  " — "  UTE  JOHN" — THE  SITE  OF  THE 
HOSTILE  CAMP— A  SIOUX  CEMETERY — MEETING  TERRY'S  COMMAND — FIND 
ING  TWO  SKELETONS — IN  THE  BAD  LANDS — LANCING  RATTLESNAKES — 
BATHING  IN  THE  YELLOWSTONE — MACKINAW  BOATS  AND  "  BULL"  BOATS 
— THE  REES  HAVE  A  PONY  DANCE— SOME  TERRIBLE  STORMS — LIEUTENANT 
WILLIAM  P.  CLARKE 344 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

CROOK  AND  TERRY  SEPARATE — THE  PICTURESQUE  LITTLE  MISSOURI — THE 
"  HORSE  MEAT  MARCH"  FROM  THE  HEAD  OF  THE  HEART  RIVER  TO 


CONTENTS.  xi 

PAGE 

DEADWOOD — ON  THE  SIOUX  TRAIL — MAKING  COFFEE  UNDER  DIFFI 
CULTIES—SLAUGHTERING  WORN-OUT  CAVALRY  HORSES  FOR  FOOD — THE 
FIGHT  AT  SLIM  BUTTES — LIEUTENANT  VON  LEUTTEWITZ  LOSES  A  LEG 
— THE  DYING  CHIEF,  AMERICAN  HORSE,  SURRENDERS — RELICS  OF  THE 
CUSTER  MASSACRE — CRAZY  HORSE  ATTACKS  OUR  LINES — SUNSHINE  AND 
RATIONS .  362 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

TO  AND  THROUGH  THE  BLACK  HILLS — HOW  DEADWOOD  LOOKED  IN  1876 — THE 
DEADWOOD  "ACADEMY  OF  MUSIC  " — THE  SECOND  WINTER  CAMPAIGN — 

THE  NAMES  OF  THE  INDIAN  SCOUTS — WIPING  OUT  THE  CHEYENNE  VILLAGE 
— LIEUTENANT  MCKINNEY  KILLED — FOURTEEN  CHEYENNE  BABIES  FROZEN 
TO  DEATH  IN  THEIR  MOTHERS'  ARMS — THE  CUSTER  MASSACRE  AGAIN — 
THE  TERRIBLE  EXPERIENCE  OF  RANDALL  AND  THE  CROW  SCOUTS.  .  .  381 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

STRANGE  MESS-MATES — THE  JOURNEY  TO  THE  AGENCIES — GENERAL  SHERI- 
DAN'S  VISIT — SPOTTED  TAIL — THE  STORY  OF  HIS  DEAD  DAUGHTER'S 
BONES— WHITE  THUNDER — RED  CLOUD — DULL  KNIFE — BIG  WOLF— THE 
NECKLACE  OF  HUMAN  FINGERS — THE  MEDICINE  MAN  AND  THE  ELECTRIC 
BATTERY — WASHINGTON — FRIDAY — INDIAN  BROTHERS — SORREL  HORSE 
— THREE  BEARS — YOUNG  MAN  AFRAID  OF  HIS  HORSES — ROCKY  BEAR — 
RED  CLOUD'S  LETTER — INDIAN  DANCES — THE  BAD  LANDS — HOW  THE 
CHEYENNES  FIRST  GOT  HORSES 397 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE  SURRENDER  OF  CRAZY  HORSE — SELLING  AMMUNITION  TO  HOSTILE  IN 
DIANS — PLUNDERING  UNARMED,  PEACEABLE  INDIANS — SUPPER  WITH 
CRAZY  HORSE — CHARACTER  OF  THIS  CHIEF— HIS  BRAVERY  AND  GEN 
EROSITY — THE  STORY  OF  THE  CUSTER  MASSACRE  AS  TOLD  BY  HORNY 
HORSE — LIEUTENANT  REILLY'S  RING — THE  DEATH  OF  CRAZY  HORSE — 
LITTLE  BIG  MAN.  .  .,,....  t  .  412 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE  MANAGEMENT  OF  THE  INDIAN  AGENCIES— AGENT  MACGILLICUDDY'S 
WONDERFUL  WORK — CROOK'S  REMAINING  DAYS  IN  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF 
THE  PLATTE — THE  BANNOCK,  UTE,  NEZ  PERCI1,  AND  CHEYENNE  OUT 
BREAKS — THE  KILLING  OF  MAJOR  THORNBURGH  AND  CAPTAIN  WEIR — 
MERRITT'S  FAMOUS  MARCH  AGAINST  TIME — HOW  THE  DEAD  CAME  TO 
LIFE  AND  WALKED — THE  CASE  OF  THE  PONCAS — CROOK'S  HUNTS  AND 
EXPLORATIONS ;  NEARLY  FROZEN  TO  DEATH  IN  A  BLIZZARD — A  NARROW 


xjj  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

ESCAPE     FROM     AN    ANGRY     SHE-BEAR — CATCHING     NEBRASKA     HORSE- 
THIEVES — "  DOC  "  MIDDLETON'S  GANG. 424 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

CROOK  RE-ASSIGNED  TO  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  ARIZONA — ALL  THE  APACHES 
ON  THE  WAR-PATH — LIEUTENANTS  MORGAN  AND  CONVERSE  WOUNDED 
— CAPTAIN  HENTIG  KILLED — CROOK  GOES  ALONE  TO  SEE  THE  HOSTILES 
— CONFERENCES  WITH  THE  APACHES— WHAT  THE  ARIZONA  GRAND  JURY 
SAID  OF  AN  INDIAN  AGENT — CONDITION  OF  AFFAIRS  AT  THE  SAN  CARLOS 
AGENCY — WHISKEY  SOLD  TO  THE  CHIRICAHUA  APACHES — APACHE  TRIALS 
BY  JURY — ARIZONA  IN  1882 — PHO3NIX,  PRESCOTT,  AND  TUCSON — INDIAN 
SCHOOLS 433 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

THE  SIERRA  MADRE  CAMPAIGN  AND  THE  CHIRICAHUAS — CHATO's  RAID 
— CROOK'S  EXPEDITION  OF  FORTY-SIX  WHITE  MEN  AND  ONE  HUNDRED 
AND  NINETY-THREE  INDIAN  SCOUTS — THE  SURPRISE  OF  THE  APACHE 
STRONGHOLD — THE  "TOMBSTONE  TOUGHS  " — THE  MANAGEMENT  OF  THE 
CHIRICAHUAS — HOW  INDIANS  WILL  WORK  IF  ENCOURAGED— GIVING  THE 
FRANCHISE  TO  INDIANS  ;  CROOK'S  VIEWS — THE  CRAWFORD  COURT  OF 
INQUIRY  —  KA-E-TEN-NA'S  ARREST  ORDERED  BY  MAJOR  BARBER  — 
TROUBLE  ARISES  BETWEEN  THE  WAR  AND  INTERIOR  DEPARTMENTS — 
CROOK  ASKS  TO  BE  RELIEVED  FROM  THE  RESPONSIBILITY  FOR  INDIAN 
AFFAIRS— SOME  OF  THE  CHIRICAHUAS  RETURN  TO  THE  WAR-PATH.  .  452 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

THE  CAMPAIGN  AGAINST  GERONIMO — THE  CROPS  RAISED  BY  THE  APACHES 
— THE  PURSUIT  OF  THE  HOSTILES — THE  HARD  WORK  OF  THE  TROOPS — 
EFFICIENT  AND  FAITHFUL  SERVICE  OF  THE  CHIRICAHUA  SCOUTS — WAR 
DANCES  AND  SPIRIT  DANCES — CAPTAIN  CRAWFORD  KILLED — A  VISIT  TO 
THE  HOSTILE  STRONGHOLD — A  "  NERVY  "  PHOTOGRAPHER — A  WHITE 
BOY  CAPTIVE  AMONG  THE  APACHES  —  ALCHISE's  AND  KA-E-TEN-NA's 
GOOD  WORK — GERONIMO  SURRENDERS  TO  CROOK.  ,  .  .  465 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

THE  EFFECTS  OF  BAD  WHISKEY  UPON  SAVAGE  INDIANS — THE  WRETCH  TRIBOL- 
LET — SOME  OF  THE  CHIRICAHUAS  SLIP  AWAY  FROM  MAUS  DURING  A  RAINY 
NIGHT— THE  BURIAL  OF  CAPTAIN  CRAWFORD— CROOK'S  TERMS  DISAP 
PROVED  IN  WASHINGTON— CROOK  ASKS  TO  BE  RELIEVED  FROM  COMMAND 
IN  ARIZONA— GERONIMO  INDUCED  TO  COME  IN  BY  THE  CHIRICAHUA 
AMBASSADORS,  Kl-E-TA  AND  MARTINEZ  —  TREACHERY  SHOWN  IN  THE 
TREATMENT  OF  THE  WELL-BEHAVED  MEMBERS  OF  THE  CHIRICAHUA 
APACHE  BAND.  .  .  ' 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

CROOK'S  CLOSING  YEARS — HE  AVERTS  A  WAR  WITH  THE  UTES — A  MEMBER 

OF  THE  COMMISSION  WHICH  SECURED  A  CESSION  OF  ELEVEN  MILLIONS  OF 
ACRES  FROM  THE  SIOUX— HIS  INTEREST  IN  GAME  LAWS — HIS  DEATH — 
WHAT  THE  APACHES  DID — WHAT  RED  CLOUD  SAID — HIS  FUNERAL  IN 
CHICAGO — BURIAL  IN  OAKLAND,  MARYLAND — RE-INTERMENT  IN  ARLING 
TON  CEMETERY,  VIRGINIA.  .....  486 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


GENERAL  GEORGE  CROOK Frontispiece 

AN  APACHE  RANCHERIA Face  page    48 

SPOTTED  TAIL 96 

SHARP  NOSE 192 

GENERAL  CROOK  AND  THE  FRIENDLY  APACHE,  ALCHISE..  240 

CHATO 304 

CONFERENCE  BETWEEN  GENERAL  CROOK  AND  GERONIMO.  416 


GRAVE  OF  CRAZY  HORSE— "THE  EBB-TIDE  OF  OUR  INDIAN  WARS." 


ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK 


CHAPTER    I. 

OLD  CAMP  GRANT  ON  THE  RIO  SAN  PEDRO — DAILY  ROUTINE  OF 
LIFE — ARCHITECTURE  OF  THE  GILA — SOLDIERS  AS  LABOR 
ERS — THE  MESCAL  AND  ITS  USES — DRINK  AND  GAMBLING 
— RATTLESNAKE  BITES  AND  THE  GOLONDRINA  WEED- 
SODA  LAKE  AND  THE  DEATH  VALLEY — FELMER  AND  HIS 
RANCH. 

DANTE  ALIGHIERI,  it  has  always  seemed  to  me,  made 
the  mistake  of  his  life  in  dying  when  he  did  in  the  pict 
uresque  capital  of  the  Exarchate  five  hundred  and  fifty  years 
ago.  Had  he  held  on  to  this  mortal  coil  until  after  Uncle  Sam 
had  perfected  the  "  Gadsden  Purchase/'  he  would  have  found 
full  scope  for  his  genius  in  the  description  of  a  region  in  which 
not  only  purgatory  and  hell,  but  heaven  likewise,  had  combined 
to  produce  a  bewildering  kaleidoscope  of  all  that  was  wonder 
ful,  weird,  terrible,  and  awe-inspiring,  with  not  a  little  that  was 
beautiful  and  romantic. 

The  vast  region  in  the  southwest  corner  of  the  United  States, 
known  on  the  maps  as  the  Territories  of  Arizona  and  New  Mex 
ico,  may,  with  perfect  frankness,  be  claimed  as  the  wonder-land 
of  the  northern  part  of  America,  with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of 
the  Republic  of  Mexico,  of  which  it  was  once  a  fragment,  and  to 
which,  ethnographically,  it  has  never  ceased  to  belong. 

In  no  other  section  can  there  be  found  such  extensive  areas  of 
desert  crossed  in  every  direction  by  the  most  asperous  mountains, 
whose  profound  cafions  are  the  wonder  of  the  world,  whose 
parched  flanks  are  matted  with  the  thorny  and  leafless  vegeta- 

1 


£  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

tion  of  the  tropics,  and  whose  lofty  summits  are  black  with  the 
foliage  of  pines  whose  graceful  branches  bend  in  the  welcome 
breezes  from  the  temperate  zone.  Here  one  stumbles  at  almost 
every  step  upon  the  traces  of  former  populations,  of  whom  so 
little  is  known,  or  sees  repeated  from  peak  to  peak  the  signal 
smokes  of  the  fierce  Apaches,  whose  hostility  to  the  white  man 
dates  back  to  the  time  of  Cortes. 

I  will  begin  my  narrative  by  a  brief  reference  to  the  condition 
of  affairs  in  Arizona  prior  to  the  arrival  of  General  Crook,  as  by 
no  other  means  can  the  arduous  nature  of  the  work  he  accom 
plished  be  understood  and  appreciated.  It  was  a  cold  and  cheer 
less  day — March  10,  1870 — when  our  little  troop,  "F"  of  the 
Third  Cavalry,  than  which  a  better  never  bore  guidon,  marched 
down  the  vertical-walled  caflon  of  the  Santa  Catalina,  crossed 
the  insignificant  sand-bed  of  the  San  Pedro,  and  came  front  into 
line  on  the  parade-ground  of  Old  Camp  Grant,  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Aravaypa.  The  sun  was  shining  brightly,  and  where  there 
was  shelter  to  be  found  in  the  foliage  of  mesquite  or  cottonwood, 
there  was  the  merry  chatter  of  birds  ;  but  in  the  open  spaces  the 
fierce  breath  of  the  norther,  laden  with  dust  and  discomfort, 
made  the  new-comers  imagine  that  an  old-fashioned  home  win 
ter  had  pursued  them  into  foreign  latitudes.  A  few  military 
formalities  hastily  concluded,  a  few  words  of  kindly  greeting 
between  ourselves  and  the  members  of  the  First  Cavalry  whom 
we  met  there,  and  ranks  were  broken,  horses  led  to  the  stables, 
and  men  filed  off  to  quarters.  We  had  become  part  and  parcel 
of  the  garrison  of  Old  Camp  Grant,  the  memory  of  which  is  still 
fragrant  as  that  of  the  most  forlorn  parody  upon  a  military  gar 
rison  in  that  most  woe-begone  of  military  departments,  Arizona. 

Of  our  march  over  from  the  Rio  Grande  it  is  not  worth  while 
to  speak ;  as  the  reader  advances  in  this  book  he  will  find  refer 
ences  to  other  military  movements  which  may  compensate  for 
the  omission,  even  when  it  is  admitted  that  our  line  of  travel 
from  Fort  Craig  lay  through  a  region  but  little  known  to  people 
in  the  East,  and  but  seldom  described.  For  those  who  may  be 
sufficiently  interested  to  follow  our  course,  I  will  say  that  we 
started  from  Craig,  marched  to  the  tumble-down  village  of 
"Paraje  de  San  Cristobal,"  at  the  head  of  the  "Jornada  del 
Muerto"  (The  Day's  Journey  of  the  Dead  Man),  which  is  the 
Sahara  of  New  Mexico,  then  across  to  the  long-since  abandoned 


JOURNEYING  FROM  CAMP  TO  CAMP.          3 

camp  at  what  was  called  Fort  MacRae,  where  we  forded  the 
river  to  the  west,  and  then  kept  along  the  eastern  rim  of  the 
timber-clad  Mimbres  Mountains,  through  Cow  Springs  to  Fort 
Cummings,  and  thence  due  west  to  Camp  Bowie,  situated  in  the 
"  Apache  Pass"  of  the  Chiricahua  Mountains  in  Southeastern 
Arizona,  a  total  distance  of  some  one  hundred  and  seventy  miles 
as  we  marched. 

There  were  stretches  of  country  picturesque  to  look  upon  and 
capable  of  cultivation,  especially  with  irrigation ;  and  other  ex 
panses  not  a  bit  more  fertile  than  so  many  brick-yards,  where  all 
was  desolation,  the  home  of  the  cactus  and  the  coyote.  Arizona 
was  in  those  days  separated  from  es  God's  country  "  by  a  space  of 
more  than  fifteen  hundred  miles,  without  a  railroad,  and  the 
officer  or  soldier  who  once  got  out  there  rarely  returned  for  years. 

Our  battalion  slowly  crawled  from  camp  to  camp,  with  no.  inci 
dent  to  break  the  dull  monotony  beyond  the  ever-recurring  sig 
nal  smokes  of  the  Apaches,  to  show  that  our  progress  was  duly 
watched  from  the  peaks  on  each  flank ;  or  the  occasional  breaking 
down  of  some  of  the  wagons  and  the  accompanying  despair  of  the 
quartermaster,  with  whose  afflictions  I  sympathized  sincerely,  as 
that  quartermaster  was  myself. 

I  used  to  think  that  there  never  had  been  such  a  wagon-train, 
and  that  there  never  could  again  be  assembled  by  the  Govern 
ment  mules  of  whose  achievements  more  could  be  written — whose 
necks  seemed  to  be  ever  slipping  through  their  collars,  and  whose 
heels  never  remained  on  terrafirma  while  there  was  anything  in 
sight  at  which  to  kick.  Increasing  years  and  added  experience 
have  made  me  more  conservative,  and  I  am  now  free  to  admit 
that  there  have  been  other  mules  as  thoroughly  saturated  with 
depravity  as  "Blinky  Jim,"  the  lop-eared  dun  "  wheeler"  in  the 
water-wagon  team  ;  other  artists  whose  attainments  in  profanity 
would  put  the  blush  upon  the  expletives  which  waked  the  echoes 
of  the  mirage-haunted  San  Simon,  and  other  drivers  who  could 
get  as  quickly,  unmistakably,  emphatically,  and  undeniably  drunk 
as  Mullan,  who  was  down  on  the  official  papers  as  the  driver  of 
the  leading  ambulance,  but,  instead  of  driving,  was  generally 
driven. 

There  would  be  very  little  use  in  attempting  to  describe  Old 
Fort  Grant,  Arizona,  partly  because  there  was  really  no  fort  to 
describe,  and  partly  because  few  of  my  readers  would  be  suffi- 


4  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

ciently  interested  in  the  matter  to  follow  me  to  the  end.  It  was, 
as  I  have  already  said,  recognized  from  the  tide-waters  of  the 
Hudson  to  those  of  the  Columbia  as  the  most  thoroughly  God 
forsaken  post  of  all  those  supposed  to  be  included  in  the  annual 
Congressional  appropriations.  Beauty  of  situation  or  of  construc 
tion  it  had  none  ;  its  site  was  the  supposed  junction  of  the  sand- 
bed  of  the  Aravaypa  with  the  sand-bed  of  the  San  Pedro,  which 
complacently  figured  on  the  topographical  charts  of  the  time  as 
creek  and  river  respectively,  but  generally  were  dry  as  a  lime- 
burner's  hat  excepting  during  the  "rainy  season."  Let  the 
reader  figure  to  himself  a  rectangle  whose  four  sides  were  the  row 
of  officers'  "  quarters/'  the  adjutant's  office,  post  bakery,  and 
guard  house,  the  commissary  and  quartermaster's  storehouses, 
and  the  men's  quarters  and  sutler's  store,  and  the  "plan,"  if 
there  was  any  "plan,"  can  be  afc  once  understood.  Back  of  the 
quartermaster's  and  commissary  storehouses,  some  little  distance, 
were  the  blacksmith's  forge,  the  butcher's  ee  corral,"  and  the  cav 
alry  stables,  while  in  the  rear  of  the  men's  quarters,  on  the  banks 
of  the  San  Pedro,  and  not  far  from  the  traces  of  the  ruins  of  a 
prehistoric  village  or  pueblo  of  stone,  was  the  loose,  sandy  spot 
upon  which  the  bucking  "  bronco  "  horses  were  broken  to  the  sad 
dle.  Such  squealing  and  struggling  and  biting  and  kicking,  and 
rolling  in  the  dust  and  getting  up  again,  only  to  introduce  some 
entirely  original  combination  of  a  hop,  skip,  and  jump,  and  a 
double  back  somersault,  never  could  be  seen  outside  of  a  herd 
of  California  "broncos."  The  animal  was  first  thrown,  blind 
folded,  and  then  the  bridle  and  saddle  were  put  on,  the  latter 
girthed  so  tightly  that  the  horse's  eyes  would  start  from  their 
sockets.  Then,  armed  with  a  pair  of  spurs  of  the  diameter  of  a 
soup-plate  and  a  mesquite  club  big  enough  to  fell  an  ox,  the 
Mexican  "  vaquero  "  would  get  into  the  saddle,  the  blinds  would 
be  cast  off,  and  the  circus  begin.  There  would  be  one  moment  of 
sweet  doubt  as  to  what  the  "  bronco  "  was  going  to  do,  and  now 
and  then  there  would  be  aroused  expectancy  that  a  really  mild- 
mannered  steed  had  been  sent  to  the  post  by  some  mistake  of  the 
quartermaster's  department.  But  this  doubt  never  lasted  very 
long  ;  the  genuine  "  bronco "  can  always  be  known  from  the 
spurious  one  by  the  fact  that  when  he  makes  up  his  mind  to 
"  buck  "  he  sets  out  upon  his  work  without  delay,  and  with  a 
vim  that  means  business.  If  there  were  many  horses  arriving  in 


BREAKING  BRONCOS.  5 

a  "  bunch/'  there  would  be  lots  of  fun  and  no  little  danger  and 
excitement.  The  men  would  mount,  and  amid  the  encouraging 
comments  of  the  on-lookers  begin  the  task  of  subjugation.  The 
bronco,  as  I  have  said,  or  should  have  said,  nearly  always  looked 
around  and  up  at  his  rider  with  an  expression  of  countenance 
that  was  really  benignant,  and  then  he  would  roach  his  back,  get 
his  four  feet  bunched  together,  and  await  developments.  These 
always  came  in  a  way  productive  of  the  best  results ;  if  the  rider 
foolishly  listened  to  the  suggestions  of  his  critics,  he  would 
almost  always  mistake  this  temporary  paroxysm  of  docility  for 
fear  or  lack  of  spirit. 

And  then  would  come  the  counsel,  inspired  by  the  Evil  One 
himself  :  "  Arrah,  thin,  shtick  yer  sphurs  int'  him,  Moriarty.*' 

This  was  just  the  kind  of  advice  that  best  suited  the  "  bronco's  " 
feelings,  because  no  sooner  would  the  rowels  strike  his  flanks  than 
the  air  would  seem  to  be  filled  with  a  mass  of  mane  and  tail  rap 
idly  revolving,  and  of  hoofs  flying  out  in  defiance  of  all  the  laws 
of  gravity,  while  a  descendant  of  the  kings  of  Ireland,  describing 
a  parabolic  orbit  through  space,  would  shoot  like  a  meteor  into 
the  sand,  and  plough  it  up  with  his  chin  and  the  usual  elocu 
tionary  effects  to  be  looked  for  under  such  circumstances. 

Yes,  those  were  happy,  happy  days — for  the  "  broncos  "  and 
the  by-standers. 

There  were  three  kinds  of  quarters  at  Old  Camp  Grant,  and  he 
who  was  reckless  enough  to  make  a  choice  of  one  passed  the  rest 
of  his  existence  while  at  the  post  in  growling  at  the  better  luck 
of  the  comrades  who  had  selected  either  one  of  the  others. 

There  was  the  adobe  house,  built  originally  for  the  kitchens  of 
the  post  at  the  date  of  its  first  establishment,  some  time  in  1857  ; 
there  were  the  "jacal"  sheds,  built  of  upright  logs,  chinked 
with  mud  and  roofed  with  smaller  branches  and  more  mud  ;  and 
the  tents,  long  since  "  condemned  "  and  forgotten  by  the  quar 
termaster  to  whom  they  had  originally  been  invoiced.  Each  and 
all  of  these  examples  of  the  Renaissance  style  of  architecture,  as 
it  found  expression  in  the  valley  of  the  Gila,  was  provided  with  a 
"  ramada  "  in  front,  which,  at  a  small  expenditure  of  labor  in 
erecting  a  few  additional  upright  saplings  and  cross-pieces,  and  a 
covering  of  cotton  wood  foliage,  secured  a  modicum  of  shelter 
from  the  fierce  shafts  of  a  sun  which  shone  not  to  warm  and 
enlighten,  but  to  enervate  and  kill. 


6  ON"  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

The  occupants  of  the  ragged  tentage  found  solace  in  the  pure 
air  which  merrily  tossed  the  flaps  and  flies,  even  if  it  brought 
with  it  rather  more  than  a  fair  share  of  heat  and  alkali  dust  from 
the  deserts  of  Sonora.  Furthermore,  there  were  few  insects  to 
bother,  a  pleasing  contrast  to  the  fate  of  those  living  in  the 
houses,  which  were  veritable  museums  of  entomology,  with  the 
choicest  specimens  of  centipedes,  scorpions,  "  vinagrones,"  and, 
occasionally,  tarantulas,  which  the  Southwest  could  produce. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  denizens  of  the  adobe  and  the  "  jacal 
outfits  "  became  inured  to  insect  pests  and  felicitated  themselves 
as  best  they  could  upon  being  free  from  the  merciless  glare  of  the 
sun  and  wind,  which  latter,  with  its  hot  breath,  seemed  to  take 
delight  in  peeling  the  skin  from  the  necks  and  faces  of  all  upon 
whom  it  could  exert  its  nefarious  powers.  My  assignment  was  to 
one  of  the  rooms  in  the  adobe  house,  an  apartment  some  four 
teen  by  nine  feet  in  area,  by  seven  and  a  half  or  eight  in  height. 
There  was  not  enough  furniture  to  occasion  any  anxiety  in  case 
of  fire  :  nothing  but  a  single  cot,  one  rocking-chair — visitors, 
when  they  came,  generally  sat  on  the  side  of  the  cot — a  trunk,  a 
shelf  of  books,  a  small  pine  wash-stand,  over  which  hung  a  mir 
ror  of  greenish  hue,  sold  to  me  by  the  post  trader  with  the  assur 
ance  that  it  was  French  plate.  I  found  out  afterward  that  the 
trader  could  not  always  be  relied  upon,  but  Fll  speak  of  him  at 
another  time.  There  were  two  window-curtains,  both  of  chintz  ; 
one  concealed  the  dust  and  fly  specks  on  the  only  window,  and 
the  other  covered  the  row  of  pegs  upon  which  hung  sabre,  forage 
cap,  and  uniform. 

In  that  part  of  Arizona  fires  were  needed  only  at  intervals,  and, 
as  a  consequence,  the  fireplaces  were  of  insignificant  dimensions, 
although  they  were  placed,  in  the  American  fashion,  on  the  side 
of  the  rooms,  and  not,  as  among  the  Mexicans,  in  the  corners. 
There  was  one  important  article  of  furniture  connected  with 
the  fireplace  of  which  I  must  make  mention — the  long  iron 
poker  with  which,  on  occasion,  I  was  wont  to  stir  up  the  embers, 
and  also  to  stir  up  the  Mexican  boy  Espendion,  to  whom,  in  the 
wilder  freaks  of  my  imagination,  I  was  in  the  habit  of  alluding 
as  my  "valet." 

The  quartermaster  had  recently  received  permission  to  expend 
"  a  reasonable  amount  "  of  paint  upon  the  officers'  quarters,  pro 
vided  the  same  could  be  done  "by  the  labor  of  the  troops." 


CAMP  HOUSEHOLD  ART.  7 

This  ' '  labor  of  the  troops "  was  a  great  thing.  It  made  the 
poor  wretch  who  enlisted  under  the  vague  notion  that  his  ad 
miring  country  needed  his  services  to  quell  hostile  Indians,  sud 
denly  find  himself  a  brevet  architect,  carrying  a  hod  and  doing 
odd  jobs  of  plastering  and  kalsomining.  It  was  an  idea  which 
never  fully  commended  itself  to  my  mind,  and  I  have  always 
thought  that  the  Government  might  have  been  better  served  had 
such  work,  and  all  other  not  strictly  military  and  necessary  for 
the  proper  police  and  cleanliness  of  the  posts,  been  assigned  to 
civilians  just  as  soon  as  representatives  of  the  different  trades 
could  be  attracted  to  the  frontier.  It  would  have  cost  a  little 
more  in  the  beginning,  but  it  would  have  had  the  effect  of  help 
ing  to  settle  up  our  waste  land  on  the  frontier,  and  that,  I  be 
lieve,  was  the  principal  reason  why  we  had  a  standing  army  at  all. 

The  soldier  felt  discontented  because  no  mention  had  been 
made  in  the  recruiting  officer's  posters,  or  in  the  contract  of 
enlistment,  that  he  was  to  do  such  work,  and  he  not  unusually 
solved  the  problem  by  "  skipping  out "  the  first  pay-day  that 
found  him  with  enough  money  ahead  to  risk  the  venture.  It 
goes  without  saying  that  the  work  was  never  any  too  well  done, 
and  in  the  present  case  there  seemed  to  be  more  paint  scattered 
round  about  my  room  than  would  have  given  it  another  coat. 
But  the  floor  was  of  rammed  earth  and  not  to  be  spoiled,  and  the 
general  effect  was  certainly  in  the  line  of  improvement.  Colonel 
Dubois,  our  commanding  officer,  at  least  thought  so,  and  warmly 
congratulated  me  upon  the  snug  look  of  everything,  and  added 
a  very  acceptable  present  of  a  picture — one  of  Prang's  framed 
chromos,  a  view  of  the  Hudson  near  the  mouth  of  Esopus  Creek 
— which  gave  a  luxurious  finish  to  the  whole  business.  Later  on, 
after  I  had  added  an  Apache  bow  and  quiver,  with  its  comple 
ment  of  arrows,  one  or  two  of  the  bright,  cheery  Navajo  rugs,  a 
row  of  bottles  filled  with  select  specimens  of  tarantulas,  spiders, 
scorpions,  rattlesnakes,  and  others  of  the  fauna  of  the  country, 
and  hung  upon  the  walls  a  suit  of  armor  which  had  belonged  to 
some  Spanish  foot-soldier  of  the  sixteenth  century,  there  was  a 
sybaritic  suggestiveness  which  made  all  that  has  been  related  of 
the  splendors  of  Solomon  and  Sardanapalus  seem  commonplace. 

Of  that  suit  of  armor  I  should  like  to  say  a  word  :  it  was  found 
by  Surgeon  Steyer,  of  the  army,  enclosing  the  bones  of  a  man,  in 
the  arid  country  between  the  waters  of  the  Rio  Grande  and  the 


8  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Pecos,  in  the  extreme  southwestern  corner  of  the  State  of  Texas, 
more  than  twenty  years  ago.  Various  conjectures  were  advanced 
and  all  sorts  of  theories  advocated  as  to  its  exact  age,  some  people 
thinking  that  it  belonged  originally  to  Coronado's  expedition, 
which  entered  New  Mexico  in  1541.  My  personal  belief  is  that 
it  belonged  to  the  expedition  of  Don  Antonio  Espejo,  or  that  of 
Don  Juan  de  Onate,  both  of  whom  came  into  New  Mexico  about 
the  same  date — 1581-1592 — and  travelled  down  the  Concho  to  its 
confluence  with  the  Rio  Grande,  which  would  have  been  just  on 
the  line  where  the  skeleton  in  armor  was  discovered.  There  is 
no  authentic  report  to  show  that  Coronado  swung  so  far  to  the 
south  ;  his  line  of  operations  took  in  the  country  farther  to  the 
north  and  east,  and  there  are  the  best  of  reasons  for  believing 
that  he  was  the  first  white  man  to  enter  the  fertile  valley  of  the 
Platte,  not  far  from  Plum  Creek,  Nebraska. 

But,  be  that  as  it  may,  the  suit  of  armor — breast  and  back  plates, 
gorget  and  helmet — nicely  painted  and  varnished,  and  with  every 
tiny  brass  button  duly  cleaned  and  polished  with  acid  and  ashes, 
added  not  a  little  to  the  looks  of  a  den  which  without  them  would 
have  been  much  more  dismal. 

For  such  of  my  readers  as  may  not  be  up  in  these  matters,  I 
may  say  that  iron  armor  was  abandoned  very  soon  after  the  Con 
quest,  as  the  Spaniards  found  the  heat  of  these  dry  regions  too 
great  to  admit  of  their  wearing  anything  so  heavy  ;  and  they  also 
found  that  the  light  cotton-batting  "  escaupiles  "  of  the  Aztecs 
served  every  purpose  as  a  protection  against  the  arrows  of  the 
naked  savages  by  whom  they  were  now  surrounded. 

There  was  not  much  to  do  in  the  post  itself,  although  there 
was  a  sufficiency  of  good,  healthy  exercise  to  be  counted  upon  at 
all  times  outside  of  it.  I  may  be  pardoned  for  dwelling  upon 
trivial  matters  such  as  were  those  entering  into  the  sum  total  of 
our  lives  in  the  post,  but,  under  the  hope  that  it  and  all  in  the 
remotest  degree  like  it  have  disappeared  from  the  face  of  the 
earth  never  to  return,  I  will  say  a  few  words. 

In  the  first  place,  Camp  Grant  was  a  hot-bed  of  the  worst  kind 
of  fever  and  ague,  the  disease  which  made  many  portions  of 
Southern  Arizona  almost  uninhabitable  during  the  summer  and 
fall  months  of  the  year.  There  was  nothing  whatever  to  do  ex 
cept  scout  after  hostile  Apaches,  who  were  very  bold  and  kept 


ARIZONA  FLORA  AND  FAUNA.  9 

the  garrison  fully  occupied.  What  with  sickness,  heat,  bad 
water,  flies,  sand-storms,  and  utter  isolation,  life  would  have  been 
dreary  and  dismal  were  it  not  for  the  novelty  which  helped  out 
the  determination  to  make  the  best  of  everything.  First  of  all, 
there  was  the  vegetation,  different  from  anything  to  be  seen 
east  of  the  Missouri  :  the  statuesque  "  pitahayas,"  with  luscious 
fruit  ;  the  massive  biznagas,  whose  juice  is  made  into  very  pala 
table  candy  by  the  Mexicans  ;  the  bear's  grass,  or  palm  ilia  ;  the 
Spanish  bayonet,  the  palo  verde,  the  various  varieties  of  cactus, 
principal  among  them  being  the  nopal,  or  plate,  and  the  cholla, 
or  nodular,  which  possesses  the  decidedly  objectionable  quality 
of  separating  upon  the  slightest  provocation,  and  sticking  to 
whatever  may  be  nearest ;  the  mesquite,  with  palatable  gum  and 
nourishing  beans  ;  the  mescal,  beautiful  to  look  upon  and  grate 
ful  to  the  Apaches,  of  whom  it  is  the  main  food-supply  ;  the 
scrub  oak,  the  juniper,  cotton  wood,  ash,  sycamore,  and,  lastly, 
the  pine  growing  on  the  higher  points  of  the  environing  moun 
tains,  were  all  noted,  examined,  and  studied,  so  far  as  oppor 
tunity  would  admit. 

And  so  with  the  animal  life  :  the  deer,  of  the  strange  variety 
called  ''the  mule";  the  coyotes,  badgers,  pole-cats,  rabbits, 
gophers — but  not  the  prairie-dog,  which,  for  some  reason  never 
understood  by  me,  does  not  cross  into  Arizona  ;  or,  to  be  more 
accurate,  does  just  cross  over  the  New  Mexican  boundary  at  Fort 
Bowie  in  the  southeast,  and  at  Tom  Keam's  ranch  in  the  Moqui 
country  in  the  extreme  northeast. 

Strangest  of  all  was  the  uncouth,  horrible  "escorpion,"  or 
"  Gila  monster,"  which  here  found  its  favorite  habitat  and  at 
tained  its  greatest  dimensions.  We  used  to  have  them  not  less 
than  three  feet  long,  black,  venomous,  and  deadly,  if  half  the  stories 
told  were  true.  The  Mexicans  time  and  time  again  asserted  that 
the  escorpion  would  kill  chickens,  and  that  it  would  eject  a  poison 
ous  venom  upon  them,  but,  in  my  own  experience,  I  have  to  say 
that  the  old  hen  which  we  tied  in  front  of  one  for  a  whole  day  was 
not  molested,  and  that  no  harm  of  any  sort  came  to  her  beyond 
being  scared  out  of  a  year's  growth.  Scientists  were  wont  to  rid 
icule  the  idea  of  the  Gila  monster  being  venomous,  upon  what 
ground  I  do  not  now  remember,  beyond  the  fact  that  it  was  a 
lizard,  and  all  lizards  were  harmless.  But  I  believe  it  is  now  well 
established  that  the  monster  is  not  to  be  handled  with  impunity. 


IQ  ON   THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

although,  like  many  other  animals,  it  may  lie  torpid  and  inoffen 
sive  for  weeks,  and  even  months,  at  a  time.  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact 
that  the  Gila  monster  is  the  only  reptile  on  earth  to-day  that  ex 
actly  fills  the  description  of  the  basilisk  or  cockatrice  of  mediaeval 
fable,  which,  being  familiar  to  the  first-comers  among  the  Castil- 
ians,  could  hardly  have  added  much  to  its  popularity  among  them. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  say  of  the  vegetation  that  the  mescal 
was  to  the  aborigines  of  that  region  much  what  the  palm  is  to 
the  nomads  of  Syria.  Baked  in  ovens  of  hot  stone  covered  with 
earth,  it  supplied  a  sweet,  delicious,  and  nutritive  food ;  its  juice 
could  be  fermented  into  an  alcoholic  drink  very  acceptable  to 
the  palate,  even  if  it  threw  into  the  shade  the  best  record  ever 
made  by  "Jersey  lightning"  as  a  stimulant.  Tear  out  one  of 
the  thorns  and  the  adhering  filament,  and  you  had  a  very  fair 
article  of  needle  and  thread  ;  if  a  lance  staff  was  needed,  the  sap 
ling  mescal  stood  ready  at  hand  to  be  so  utilized  ;  the  stalk,  cut 
into  sections  of  proper  length,  and  provided  with  strings  of  sinew, 
became  the  Apache  fiddle — I  do  not  care  to  be  interrupted  by 
questions  as  to  the  quality  of  the  music  emitted  by  these  fiddles, 
as  I  am  now  trying  to  give  my  readers  some  notion  of  the  eco 
nomic  value  of  the  several  plants  of  the  Territory,  and  am  not 
ready  to  enter  into  a  disquisition  upon  melody  and  such  matters, 
in  which,  perhaps,  the  poor  little  Apache  fiddle  would  cut  but  a 
slim  figure — and  in  various  other  ways  this  strange,  thorny- 
leafed  plant  seemed  anxious  to  show  its  friendship  for  man.  And 
I  for  one  am  not  at  all  surprised  that  the  Aztecs  reverenced  it  as 
one  of  their  gods,  under  the  name  of  Quetzalcoatl.* 

The  "  mesquite  "  is  a  member  of  the  acacia  family,  and  from 
its  bark  annually,  each  October,  exudes  a  gum  equal  to  the  best 
Arabic  that  ever  descended  the  Nile  from  Khartoum.  There  are 
three  varieties  of  the  plant,  two  of  them  edible  and  one  not. 
One  of  the  edible  kinds — the  "  tornillo,"  or  screw — grows  luxu 
riantly  in  the  hot,  sandy  valley  of  the  Colorado,  and  forms  the 
main  vegetable  food  of  the  Mojave  Indians  ;  the  other,  with  pods 
shaped  much  like  those  of  the  string-bean  of  our  own  markets, 
is  equally  good,  and  has  a  sweet  and  pleasantly  acidulated  taste. 
The  squaws  take  these  beans,  put  them  in  mortars,  and  pound 
them  into  meal,  of  which  bread  is  made,  in  shape  and  size  and 

*  Quetzalcoatl  is  identified  with  the  maguey  in  Kingsborough,  vol.  vi.,  107. 


MESQUITE.  11 

weight  not  unlike  the  elongated  projectiles  of  the  three-inch  rifled 
cannon. 

Alarcon,  who  ascended  the  Colorado  Eiver  in  1541,  describes 
such  bread  as  in  use  among  the  tribes  along  its  banks ;  and 
Cabeza  de  Vaca  and  his  wretched  companions,  sole  survivors  of 
the  doomed  expedition  of  Panfilo  de  Narvaez,  which  went  to 
pieces  near  the  mouth  of  the  Suwanee  River,  in  Florida,  found 
this  bread  in  use  among  the  natives  along  the  western  part  of 
their  line  of  march,  after  they  had  succeeded  in  escaping  from 
the  Indians  who  had  made  them  slaves,  and  had,  in  the  guise  of 
medicine-men,  tramped  across  the  continent  until  they  struck 
the  Spanish  settlements  near  Culiacan,  on  the  Pacific  coast,  in 
1536.  But  Vaca  calls  it  "  mizquiquiz."  Oastaneda  relates  that 
in  his  day  (1541)  the  people  of  Sonora  (which  then  included 
Arizona)  made  a  bread  of  the  mesquite,  shaping  it  like  a  cheese  ; 
it  had  the  property  of  keeping  for  a  whole  year. 

There  was  so  little  hunting  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
post,  and  so  much  danger  attending  the  visits  of  small  parties  to 
the  higher  hills  a  few  miles  off,  in  which  deer,  and  even  bear, 
were  to  be  encountered,  that  nothing  in  that  line  was  attempted 
except  when  on  scout  ;  all  our  recreation  had  to  be  sought  within 
the  limits  of  the  garrison,  and  evolved  from  our  own  personal  re 
sources.  The  deficiency  of  hunting  did  not  imply  that  there  was 
any  lack  of  shooting  about  the  post ;  all  that  any  one  could  desire 
could  be  had  for  the  asking,  and  that,  too,  without  moving  from 
under  the  "  ramadas  "  back  of  the  quarters.  Many  and  many  a 
good  line  shot  we  used  to  make  at  the  coyotes  and  skunks  which 
with  the  going  down  of  the  sun  made  their  appearance  in  the 
garbage  piles  in  the  ravines  to  the  north  of  us. 

There  was  considerable  to  be  done  in  the  ordinary  troop  duties, 
which  began  at  reveille  with  the  "stables,"  lasting  half  an  hour, 
after  which  the  horses  and  mules  not  needed  for  the  current  tasks 
of  the  day  were  sent  out  to  seek  such  nibbles  of  pasturage  as  they 
might  find  under  the  shade  of  the  mesquite.  A  strong  guard, 
mounted  and  fully  armed,  accompanied  the  herd,  and  a  number 
of  horses,  saddled  but  loosely  cinched,  remained  behind  under 
the  grooming-sheds,  ready  to  be  pushed  out  after  any  raiding 
party  of  Apaches  which  might  take  a  notion  to  sneak  up  and 
stampede  the  herd  at  pasture. 


12  ON   THE  BORDER  WITH   CROOK. 

Guard  mounting  took  place  either  before  or  after  breakfast, 
according  to  season,  and  then  followed  the  routine  of  the  day  : 
inspecting  the  men's  mess  at  breakfast,  dinner,  and  supper;  a 
small  amount  of  drill,  afternoon  stables,  dress  or  undress  parade 
at  retreat  or  sundown,  and  such  other  occupation  as  might  sug 
gest  itself  in  the  usual  visit  to  the  herd  to  see  that  the  pasturage 
selected  was  good,  and  that  the  guards  were  vigilant  ;  some  ab 
sorption  in  the  recording  of  the  proceedings  of  garrison  courts- 
martial  and  boards  of  survey,  and  then  general  ennui,  unless  the 
individual  possessed  enough  force  to  make  work  for  himself. 

This,  however,  was  more  often  the  case  than  many  of  my  read 
ers  would  imagine,  and  I  can  certify  to  no  inconsiderable  amount 
of  reading  and  study  of  Spanish  language  and  literature,  of  min 
eralogy,  of  botany,  of  history,  of  constitutional  or  of  interna 
tional  law,  and  of  the  belles-lettres,  by  officers  of  the  army  with 
whom  I  became  acquainted  at  Old  Camp  Grant ;  Fort  Craig,  New 
Mexico,  and  other  dismal  holes — more  than  I  have  ever  known 
among  gentlemen  of  leisure  anywhere  else.  It  was  no  easy  matter 
to  study  with  ink  drying  into  gum  almost  as  soon  as  dipped  out 
by  the  pen,  and  paper  cracking  at  the  edges  when  folded  or  bent. 

The  newspapers  of  the  day  were  eagerly  perused — when  they 
came  ;  but  those  from  San  Francisco  were  always  from  ten  to  fif 
teen  days  old,  those  from  New  York  about  five  to  six  weeks,  and 
other  cities  any  intermediate  age  you  please.  The  mail  at  first 
came  every  second  Tuesday,  hut  this  was  increased  soon  to  a 
weekly  service,  and  on  occasion,  when  chance  visitors  reported 
some  happening  of  importance,  the  commanding  officer  would 
send  a  courier  party  to  Tucson  with  instructions  to  the  post 
master  there  to  deliver. 

The  temptations  to  drink  and  to  gamble  were  indeed  great, 
and  those  who  yielded  and  fell  by  the  way-side  numbered  many 
of  the  most  promising  youngsters  in  the  army.  Many  a  brilliant 
and  noble  fellow  has  succumbed  to  the  ennui  and  gone  down, 
wrecking  a  life  full  of  promise  for  himself  and  the  service.  It 
was  hard  for  a  man  to  study  night  and  day  with  the  thermom 
eter  rarely  under  the  nineties  even  in  winter  at  noon,  and  often 
climbing  up  to  and  over  the  120  notch  on  the  Fahrenheit  scale 
before  the  meridian  of  days  between  April  1st  and  October  15th ; 
it  was  hard  to  organize  riding  or  hunting  parties  when  all  the 
horses  had  just  returned  worn  out  by  some  rough  scouting  in 


DRINKING   AND   GAMBLING.  13 

the  Final  or  Sierra  Ancha.  There  in  the  trader's  store  was  a 
pleasant,  cool  room,  with  a  minimum  of  flies,  the  latest  papers, 
perfect  quiet,  genial  companionship,  cool  water  in  "  ollas  "  swing 
ing  from  the  rafters,  and  covered  by  boards  upon  which,  in  a 
thin  layer  of  soil,  grew  a  picturesque  mantle  of  green  barley,  and, 
on  a  table  conveniently  near,  cans  of  lemon-sugar,  tumblers  and 
spoons,  and  one  or  two  packs  of  cards.  My  readers  must  not 
expect  me  to  mention  ice  or  fruits.  I  am  not  describing  Del- 
rnonico's ;  I  am  writing  of  Old  Camp  Grant,  and  I  am  painting 
the  old  hole  in  the  most  rosy  colors  I  can  employ.  Ice  was 
unheard  of,  and  no  matter  how  high  the  mercury  climbed  or 
how  stifling  might  be  the  sirocco  from  Sonora,  the  best  we  could 
do  was  to  cool  water  by  evaporation  in  "  ollas  "  of  earthenware, 
manufactured  by  the  Papago  Indians  living  at  the  ruined  mis 
sion  of  San  Xavier,  above  Tucson. 

To  revert  to  the  matter  of  drinking  and  gambling.  There  is 
scarcely  any  of  either  at  the  present  day  in  the  regular  army. 
Many  things  have  combined  to  bring  about  such  a  desirable 
change,  the  principal,  in  my  opinion,  being  the  railroads  which 
have  penetrated  and  transformed  the  great  American  continent, 
placing  comforts  and  luxuries  within  reach  of  officers  and  men, 
and  absorbing  more  of  their  pay  as  well  as  bringing  them 
within  touch  of  civilization  and  its  attendant  restraints.  Of 
the  two  vices,  drunkenness  was  by  all  odds  the  preferable  one. 
For  a  drunkard,  one  can  have  some  pity,  because  he  is  his  own 
worst  enemy,  and,  at  the  worst,  there  is  hope  for  his  regener 
ation,  while  there  is  absolutely  none  for  the  gambler,  who  lives 
upon  the  misfortunes  and  lack  of  shrewdness  of  his  comrades. 
There  are  many  who  believe,  or  affect  to  believe,  in  gaming 
for  the  excitement  of  the  thing  and  not  for  the  money  involved. 
There  may  be  such  a  thing,  but  I  do  not  credit  its  existence. 
However,  the  greatest  danger  in  gambling  lay  in  the  waste  of 
time  rather  than  in  the  loss  of  money,  which  loss  rarely  amounted 
to  very  great  sums,  although  officers  could  not  well  afford  to 
lose  anything. 

I  well  remember  one  great  game,  played  by  a  party  of  my 
friends— but  at  Fort  Laramie,  Wyoming,  and  not  in  Arizona— 
which  illustrates  this  better  than  I  can  describe.  It  was  an  all- 
night  game — ten  cents  to  come  in  and  a  quarter  limit— and  there 
was  no  small  amount  of  engineering  skill  shown  before  the  first 


!4  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

call  for  reveille  separated  the  party.  "  Fellows,"  said  one  of 
the  quartette,  in  speaking  of  it  some  days  afterward,  "  I  tell 
you  it  was  a  struggle  of  the  giants,  and  when  the  smoke  of  battle 
cleared  away,  I  found  I'd  lost  two  dollars  and  seventy-five  cents." 

As  it  presents  itself  to  my  recollection  now,  our  life  wasn't  so 
very  monotonous  ;  there  was  always  something  going  on  to 
interest  and  instruct,  even  if  it  didn't  amuse  or  enliven. 

"  Corporal  Dile's  har-r-r-se  'B  bit  by  a  ratthler  'n  th'  aff  hind 
leg";  and,  of  course,  everybody  turns  out  and  gets  down  to  the 
stables  as  fast  as  possible,  each  with  his  own  prescription,  which 
are  one  and  all  discarded  for  the  great  Mexican  panacea  of  a  poul 
tice  of  the  "golondrina"  weed.  Several  times  I  have  seen  this 
used,  successfully  and  unsuccessfully,  and  I  do  not  believe  in  its 
vaunted  efficacy  by  any  means. 

"  Oscar  Hutton  's  bin  kicked  "n  th'  jaw  by  a  mewel."  Hutton 
was  one  of  the  post  guides,  a  very  good  and  brave  man.  His  jaw 
was  hopelessly  crushed  by  a  blow  from  the  lightning  hoofs  of  a 
miserable  "  bronco  "  mule,  and  poor  Hutton  never  recovered  from 
the  shock.  He  died  not  long  after,  and,  in  my  opinion,  quite  as 
much  from  chagrin  at  being  outwitted  as  from  the  injury  in 
flicted. 

Hutton  had  had  a  wonderful  experience  in  the  meanest  parts 
of  our  great  country — and  be  it  known  that  Uncle  Sam  can  hold 
his  own  with  any  prince  or  potentate  on  God's  footstool  in  the 
matter  of  mean  desert  land.  All  over  the  great  interior  basin 
west  of  the  Rockies  Hutton  had  wandered  in  the  employ  of  the 
United  States  with  some  of  the  Government  surveying  parties. 
Now  he  was  at  the  mouth  of  the  Virgin,  where  there  is  a  salt  mine 
with  slabs  two  and  three  feet  thick,  as  clear  as  crystal  ;  next  he 
was  a  wanderer  in  the  dreaded  "  Death  Valley,"  below  the  sea- 
level,  where  there  is  no  sign  of  animal  life  save  the  quickly  dart 
ing  lizard,  or  the  vagrant  duck  whose  flesh  is  bitter  from  the 
water  of  "  soda"  lakes,  which  offer  to  the  wanderer  all  the  com 
forts  of  a  Chinese  laundry,  but  not  one  of  those  of  a  home.  At 
that  time  I  only  knew  of  these  dismal  places  from  the  relation 
of  Hutton,  to  which  I  listened  open-mouthed,  but  since  then  I 
have  had  some  personal  acquaintance,  and  can  aver  that  in  naught 
did  he  overlap  the  truth.  The  ground  is  covered  for  miles  with 
pure  baking-soda — I  decline  to  specify  what  brand,  as  I  am  not 


FELMER'S  PURCHASE.  !5 

writing  this  as  an  advertisement,,  and  my  readers  can  consult 
individual  preference  if  they  feel  so  disposed — which  rises  in  a 
cloud  of  dry,  irritating  dust  above  the  horse's  houghs,  and  if 
agitated  by  the  hot  winds,  excoriates  the  eyes,  throat,  nostrils, 
and  ears  of  the  unfortunate  who  may  find  himself  there.  Now 
and  then  one  discerns  in  the  dim  distance  such  a  deceiving  body 
of  water  as  the  '•  Soda  Lake,"  which  tastes  like  soapsuds,  and 
nourishes  no  living  thing  save  the  worthless  ducks  spoken  of, 
whose  flesh  is  uneatable  except  to  save  one  from  starvation. 

Hutton  had  seen  so  much  hardship  that  it  was  natural  to 
expect  him  to  be  meek  and  modest  in  his  ideas  and  demeanor, 
but  he  was,  on  the  contrary,  decidedly  vain  and  conceited,  and 
upon  such  a  small  matter  that  it  ought  riot  really  to  count 
against  him.  He  had  six  toes  on  each  foot,  a  fact  to  which  he 
adverted  with  pride.  "  Bee  gosh,"  he  would  say,  "  there  hain't 
ennuther  man  'n  th'  hull  dog-goned  outfit 's  got  ez  meiiny  toes  's 
me." 

Then  there  was  the  excitement  at  Felmer's  ranch,  three  miles 
above  the  post.  Felmer  was  the  post  blacksmith,  and  lived  in  a 
little  ranch  in  the  fertile  "  bottom  "  of  the  San  Pedro,  where  he 
raised  a  "  patch  "  of  barley  and  garden- truck  for  sale  to  the  gar 
rison.  He  was  a  Russian  or  a  Polynesian  or  a  Turk  or  a  Theoso- 
phist  or  something — he  had  lived  in  so  many  portions  of  the- 
world's  surface  that  I  never  could  keep  track  of  him.  I  distinctly 
remember  that  he  was  born  in  Germany,  had  lived  in  Russia  or 
in  the  German  provinces  close  to  Poland,  and  had  thence  trav 
elled  everywhere.  He  had  married  an  Apache  squaw,  and  from 
her  learned  the  language  of  her  people.  She  was  now  dead, 
but  Joe  was  quite  proud  of  his  ability  to  cope  with  all  the 
Apaches  in  Arizona,  and  in  being  a  match  for  them  in  every  wile. 
One  hot  day — all  the  days  were  comfortably  warm,  but  this 
was  a  "  scorcher  " — there  was  a  sale  of  condemned  Government 
stock,  and  Joe  bought  a  mule,  which  the  auctioneer  facetiously 
suggested  should  be  called  "  Lazarus,"  he  had  so  many  sores  all 
over  his  body.  But  Joe  bought  him,  perfectly  indifferent  to  the 
scoffs  and  sneers  of  the  by-standers.  "  Don't  you  think  the 
Apaches  may  get  him  ?  "  I  ventured  to  inquire.  "That's  jest 
what  I'm  keeping  him  fur ;  bait— unnerstan'  ?  'N  Apache  '11 
come  down  'n  my  alfalfy  field  'n  git  thet  mewel,  'n  fust  thing  you 
know  thar  '11  be  a  joke  on  somebody. " 


16  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Felmer  was  a  first-class  shot,  and  we  naturally  supposed  that 
the  joke  would  be  on  the  deluded  savage  who  might  sneak  down 
to  ride  away  with  such  a  crow-bait,  and  would  become  the  mark 
for  an  unerring  rifle.  But  it  was  not  so  to  be.  The  wretched 
quadruped  had  his  shoes  pulled  off,  and  was  then  turned  loose  in 
alfalfa  and  young  barley,  to  his  evident  enjoyment  and  benefit. 
Some  time  had  passed,  and  we  had  almost  forgotten  to  twit 
Felmer  about  his  bargain.  It's  a  very  thin  joke  that  cannot 
be  made  to  last  five  or  six  weeks  in  such  a  secluded  spot  as 
Old  Camp  Grant,  and,  for  that  reason,  at  least  a  month  must 
have  elapsed  when,  one  bright  Sunday  afternoon,  Felmer  was 
rudely  aroused  from  his  siesta  by  the  noise  of  guns  and  the  voices 
of  his  Mexican  herders  crying  :  "  Apaches  !  Apaches  !  "  And 
there  they  were,  sure  enough,  and  on  top  of  that  sick,  broken- 
down  cast-off  of  the  quartermaster's  department — three  of  them, 
each  as  big  as  the  side  of  a  house,  and  poor  Joe  so  dazed  that  for 
several  minutes  he  couldn't  fire  a  shot. 

The  two  bucks  in  front  were  kicking  their  heels  into  the  mule's 
ribs,  and  the  man  in  rear  had  passed  a  hair  lariat  under  the 
mule's  tail,  and  was  sawing  away  for  dear  life.  And  the  mule  ? 
Well,  the  mule  wasn't  idle  by  any  means,  but  putting  in  his  best 
licks  in  getting  over  the  ground,  jumping  "arroyos"  and  rocks, 
charging  into  and  over  nopals  and  chollas  and  mesquite,  and 
fast  leaving  behind  him  the  valley  of  the  San  Pedro,  and  getting 
into  the  foot-hills  of  the  Piualeno  Range. 


CHAPTER    II. 

STRANGE  VISITORS — SOME  APACHE  CUSTOMS — MEXICAN  CAPTIVES 
— SPEEDY  AND  THE  GHOST — THE  ATTACK  UPON  KENNEDY 
AND  ISRAEL'S  TRAIN — FINDING  THE  BODIES— THE  DEAD 

APACHE — A  FRONTIER  BURIAL — HOW  LIEUTENANT  YEATON 
RECEIVED  HIS  DEATH  WOUND — ON  THE  TRAIL  WITH  LIEU 
TENANT  GUSHING — REVENGE  IS  SWEET. 

WE  had  all  sorts  of  visitors  from  the  adjacent  country.  The 
first  I  remember  was  a  squaw  whose  nose  had  been  cut 
off  by  a  brutal  and  jealous  husband.  The  woman  was  not  at  all 
bad  looking,  and  there  was  not  a  man  at  the  post  who  did  not 
feel  sorry  for  the  unfortunate  who,  for  some  dereliction,  real  or 
imagined,  had  been  so  savagely  disfigured. 

This  shocking  mode  of  punishment,  in  which,  by  the  way,  the 
Apache  resembled  some  of  the  nations  of  antiquity,  prevailed  in 
full  vigor  until  after  General  Crook  had  subjected  this  fierce  tribe 
to  law  and  discipline,  and  the  first,  or,  at  least,  among  the  very 
first,  regulations  he  laid  down  for  their  guidance  was  that  the 
women  of  the  tribe  must  be  treated  just  as  kindly  as  the  men, 
and  each  and  every  infraction  of  the  rule  was  threatened  with 
the  severest  punishment  the  whole  military  force  could  inflict. 
Since  then  the  practice  has  wholly  died  out  among  both  the 
Apaches  and  the  Hualpais. 

Then  there  came  an  old  withered  crone,  leading  a  woman  some 
what  younger,  but  still  shrivelled  with  the  life  of  care  and  drudg 
ery  which  falls  to  the  lot  of  the  Apache  matron,  and  a  third 
member  of  this  interesting  party,  a  boy  ten  or  twelve  years  old, 
who  was  suffering  from  the  bite  of  a  rattlesnake,  which  had 
caused  his  right  leg  to  shrink  and  decay.  The  medicine-men  of 
their  band  had  sung  vigorously  and  applied  such  medicine  as 
they  thought  best  suited  to  the  case,  but  it  proved  to  be  beyond 
their  skill,  and  they  had  advised  this,  journey  to  Camp  Grant, 
to  see  what  the  white  man's  medicine  could  do  for  the  sufferer. 
2 


18  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Still  another  interesting  picture  framed  in  my  memory  is  that 
of  the  bent  old  dotard  who  wished  to  surrender  on  account  of 
frankly  confessed  impotency  to  remain  longer  on  the  war-path. 
Battles  were  for  young  men  only  ;  as  people  grew  older  they  got 
more  sense,  and  all  should  live  as  brothers.  This  world  was 
large  enough  for  everybody,  and  there  should  be  enough  to  eat 
for  the  Indians  and  the  white  men,  too.  There  were  men  whose 
hearts  were  hard  and  who  would  not  listen  to  reason  ;  they 
wished  to  fight,  but  as  for  himself,  his  legs  could  not  climb 
the  mountains  any  longer,  and  the  thorns  were  bad  when  they 
scratched  his  skin.  His  heart  was  good,  and  so  long  as  this  stone 
which  he  placed  on  the  ground  should  last  he  wanted  to  let  the 
Great  Father  know  that  he  meant  to  be  his  friend.  Had  his 
brother,  the  post  commander,  any  tobacco  ? 

Many  an  hour  did  I  sit  by  the  side  of  our  friend  and  brother, 
watching  him  chip  out  arrow-heads  from  fragments  of  beer  bot 
tles,  or  admiring  the  dexterity  with  which  he  rubbed  two  sticks 
together  to  produce  flame.  Matches  were  his  greatest  treasure, 
and  he  was  never  tired  begging  for  them,  and  as  soon  as  obtained, 
he  would  wrap  them  up  carefully  in  a  piece  of  buckskin  to  screen 
from  the  weather.  But  we  never  gave  him  reason  to  suspect  that 
our  generosity  was  running  away  with  our  judgment.  We  were 
careful  not  to  give  him  any  after  we  found  out  that  he  could 
make  fire  so  speedily  and  in  a  manner  so  strange,  and  which  we 
were  never  tired  of  seeing. 

These  members  of  the  tribe  were  all  kept  as  prisoners,  more  to 
prevent  communication  with  the  enemy  than  from  any  suspected 
intention  of  attempting  an  escape.  They  were  perfectly  contented, 
were  well  fed,  had  no  more  to  do  than  was  absolutely  good  for 
them  in  the  way  of  exercise,  and  except  that  they  had  to  sleep 
under  the  eyes  of  the  sentinels  at  night,  were  as  free  as  any  one 
else  in  the  garrison.  Once  or  twice  Indian  couriers  came  over 
from  Camp  Apache — or  Thomas,  as  it  was  then  called — in  the 
Sierra  Blanca.  Those  whom  I  first  saw  were  almost  naked, 
their  only  clothing  being  a  muslin  loin-cloth,  a  pair  of  pointed- 
toed  moccasins,  and  a  hat  of  hawk  feathers.  They  had  no  arms 
but  lances  and  bows  and  arrows.  One  of  them  bore  a  small  round 
shield  of  raw-hide  decked  with  eagle  plumage  ,  another  had  a 
pretty  fiddle  made  of  a  joint  of  the  bamboo-like  stalk  of  the 
century  plant,  and  a  third  had  a  pack  of  monte  cards,  cut  out 


INDIAN  COURIERS.  19 

of  dried  pony  skin  and  painted  to  represent  rudely  the  figures 
in  the  four  suits. 

Their  lank,  long  black  hair,  held  back  from  the  eyes  by  bands 
of  red  flannel  ;  their  superb  chests,  expanded  by  constant  exer 
cise  in  the  lofty  mountains,  and  their  strongly  muscled  legs  con 
firmed  all  that  I  had  already  learned  of  their  powers  of  endur 
ance  from  the  half-breed  Mexicans  and  the  tame  Apaches  at  the 
post — people  like  Manuel  Duran,  Nicolas,  and  Francisco,  who 
were  what  were  then  known  as  tame  Apaches,  and  who  had  never 
lived  with  the  others  in  the  hills,  but  belonged  to  a  section 
which  had  made  peace  with  the  whites  many  years  previously  and 
had  never  broken  it ;  or  escaped  captives  like  Jose  Maria,  Jose 
de  Leon,  Victor  Ruiz,  or  Antonio  Besias,  who  had  been  torn  away 
from  their  homes  in  Sonora  at  an  early  age,  and  had  lived  so 
long  with  the  savages  that  they  had  become  thoroughly  conver 
sant  with  all  their  ideas  and  customs  as  well  as  their  language. 
Nearly  all  that  class  of  interpreters  and  guides  are  now  dead. 
Each  had  a  wonderful  history,  well  worthy  of  recital,  but  I  can 
not  allow  myself  to  be  tempted  into  a  more  extended  reference  to 
any  of  them  at  this  moment. 

The  fact  that  the  post  trader  had  just  received  a  stock  of  new 
goods  meant  two  things — it  meant  that  he  had  made  a  mistake 
in  his  order  and  received  a  consignment  different  from  the  old 
goods  which  he  had  hitherto  taken  so  much  pride  in  keeping 
upon  his  shelves,  and  it  meant  that  the  paymaster  was  about  to 
pay  us  a  visit,  and  leave  a  share  of  Uncle  Sam's  money  in  the 
country. 

There  were  two  assistants  in  the  store,,  Paul  and  Speedy. 

Paul  was  getting  along  in  years,  but  Speedy  was  young  and 
bright.  Paul  had  at  one  period  in  his  life  possessed  some  intelli 
gence  and  a  fair  education,  but  whiskey,  cards,  and  tobacco  had 
long  ago  blunted  what  faculties  he  could  claim,  and  left  him  a 
poor  hulk,  working  for  his  board  and  drinks  at  such  odd  jobs  as 
there  were  to  do  about  the  premises.  He  had  been  taught  the 
trade  of  cabinet-making  in  Strassburg,  and  when  in  good  humor, 
and  not  too  drunk,  would  join  and  polish,  carve  and  inlay  boxes, 
made  of  the  wood  of  the  mesquite,  madrofio,  manzanita,  ash,  and 
walnut,  which  would  delight  the  eyes  of  the  most  critical. 

Speedy  was  the  most  active  man  about  the  post.     He  was  one 


20  ON  THE  BORDER   WITH  CROOK. 

of  our  best  runners,  and  by  all  odds  the  best  swimmer  in  the  cool, 
deep  pools  which  the  San  Pedro  formed  where  it  came  up  out  of 
the  sands  a  short  distance  below  the  officers'  quarters,  and  where 
we  often  bathed  in  the  early  evening  hours,  with  some  one  of  the 
party  on  guard,  because  the  lurking  Apaches  were  always  a  stand 
ing  menace  in  that  part  of  Arizona. 

I  do  not  know  what  has  become  of  Speedy.  He  was  an  excep 
tionally  good  man  in  many  ways,  and  if  not  well  educated,  made 
up  in  native  intelligence  what  others  more  fortunate  get  from 
books.  From  a  Yankee  father  he  inherited  the  Maine  shrewd 
ness  in  money  matters  and  a  keenness  in  seeing  the  best  points 
in  a  bargain.  A  Spanish  mother  endowed  him  with  a  fund  of 
gentle  politeness  and  good  manners. 

When  he  came  to  bid  me  good-by  and  tell  me  that  he  had 
opened  a  "  Monte  Pio,"  or  pawnbroker's  shop,  in  Tucson,  I  ven 
tured  to  give  him  a  little  good  advice. 

"  You  must  be  careful  of  your  money,  Speedy.  Pawnbroking 
is  a  risky  business.  You'll  be  likely  to  have  a  great  deal  of  unsal 
able  stuff  left  on  your  hands,  and  it  don't  look  to  me  as  if  five 
per  cent,  was  enough  interest  to  charge.  The  laws  of  New  York, 
I  believe,  allow  one  to  charge  twenty  per  cent,  per  annum." 

"  Cap.,  what's  per  annum  ?  " 

"Why,  every  year,  of  course." 

"Oh,  but  you  see  mine  is  five  per  cent,  a  week." 

Speedy  was  the  only  man  I  ever  knew  who  had  really  seen  a 
ghost.  As  he  described  it  to  us,  it  had  much  the  appearance  of 
a  "human,"  and  was  mounted  on  a  pretty  good  specimen  of  a 
Sonora  plug,  and  was  arrayed  in  a  suit  of  white  canvas,  with 
white  helmet,  green  veil,  blue  goggles,  and  red  side  whiskers.  It 
didn't  say  a  word  to  my  friend,  but  gave  him  a  decidedly  cold 
stare,  which  was  all  that  Speedy  cared  to  wait  for  before  he 
broke  for  the  brush.  A  hundred  yards  or  so  in  rear  there  was 
a  train  of  pack  mules,  laden  with  cot  frames,  bath-tubs,  hat 
boxes,  and  other  trumpery,  which  may  or  may  not  have  had 
something  to  do  with  the  ghost  in  advance.  Speedy  and  his 
mule  were  too  agitated  to  stop  to  ask  questions,  and  continued 
on  into  Hermosillo. 

Information^  received  about  this  time  from  Sonora  reported 
that  an  English  "lud"  was  ''roughing  it"  in  and  about  the 
Yaqui  country,  and  it  is  just  possible  that  he  could  have  given 


AN  APACHE  AMBUSCADE.  21 

^        i 

much  information  about  the  apparition  had  it  been  demanded  ; 
but  Speedy  persisted  in  his  belief  that  he  had  had  a  "  call "  from 
the  other  world,  and  was  sorely  depressed  for  several  weeks. 

Speedy  rendered  valuable  help  in  our  self-imposed  task  of 
digging  in  the  "ruins"  alongside  of  our  quarters— vestiges  of  an 
occupancy  by  a  pre-historic  race,  allied  to  the  Pueblos  of  the  Rio 
Grande  or  to  the  Pimas  and  Papagoes. 

Broken  pottery,  painted  and  unpainted,  a  flint  knife  or  two, 
some  arrow-heads,  three  or  four  stone  hatchets,  and  more  of  the 
same  sort,  were  our  sole  reward  for  much  hard  work.  The  great 
question  which  wrought  us  up  to  fever  heat  was,  Who  were  these 
inhabitants  ?  Felmer  promptly  decided  that  they  were  Phoeni 
cians — upon  what  grounds  I  do  not  know,  and  it  is  very  doubt 
ful  if  Felmer  knew  either — but  Oscar  Hutton  "  'lowed  they  moufc 
V  bin  some  o'  them  Egyptian  niggers  as  built  the  pyramids  in 
th'  Bible." 

The  paymaster  had  come  and  gone  ;  the  soldiers  had  spent 
their  last  dollar  ;  the  last  (( pay-day  drunk"  had  been  rounded 
up  and  was  now  on  his  way  to  the  guard-house,  muttering  a 
maudlin  defiance  to  Erin's  foes  ;  the  sun  was  shining  with  scorch 
ing  heat  down  upon  the  bed  of  pebbles  which  formed  the 
parade-ground  ;  the  flag  hung  limp  and  listless  from  the  pudgy 
staff ;  the  horses  were  out  on  herd  ;  the  scarlet-shouldered  black 
birds,  the  cardinals,  the  sinsontes,  and  the  jays  had  sought  the 
deepest  shadows  ;  there  was  no  sound  to  drown  the  insistent 
buzz  of  the  aggravating  flies  or  the  voice  of  the  Recorder  of  the 
Garrison  Court  just  assembled,  which  was  trying  Privates  A.  and 
B.  and  C.  and  D.  and  others,  names  and  rank  now  forgotten,  for 
having  {i then  and  there,"  "on  or  about/'  and  "at  or  near"  the 
post  of  Camp  Grant,  Arizona,  committed  sundry  and  divers 
crimes  against  the  law  and  regulations — when,  straight  across 
the  parade,  with  the  swiftness  of  a  frightened  deer,  there  ran  a 
half  or  three-quarters  naked  Mexican,  straight  to  the  door  of  the 
"  comandante's  "  quarters. 

He  was  almost  barefooted,  the  shoes  he  had  on  being  in 
splinters.  His  trousers  had  been  scratched  so  by  the  thorns 
and  briars  that  only  rags  were  now  pendent  from  his  waist. 
His  hat  had  been  dropped  in  his  terrified  flight  from  some 
unexplained  danger,  which  the  wan  face,  almost  concealed  by 
matted  locks,  and  the  shirt  covered  with  blood  still  flowing 


22  ON   THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

freely  from  a  wound  in  the  chest,  conclusively  showed  to  have 
been  an  Apache  ambuscade. 

"With  faltering  voice  and  in  broken  accents  the  sufferer  ex 
plained  that  he  was  one  of  a  party  of  more  than  thirty  Mexi 
cans  coming  up  from  Tucson  to  work  on  the  ranch  of  Kennedy 
and  Israel,  who  lived  about  a  mile  from  our  post  down  the  San 
Pedro.  There  were  a  number  of  women  and  several  children 
with  the  train,  and  not  a  soul  had  the  slightest  suspicion  of 
danger,  when  suddenly,  on  the  head  of  the  slope  leading  up 
to  the  long  "  mesa "  just  this  side  of  the  Canon  del  Oro,  they 
had  found  themselves  surrounded  on  three  sides  by  a  party  of 
Apaches,  whose  strength  was  variously  put  at  from  thirty  to  fifty 
warriors. 

The  Americans  and  Mexicans  made  the  best  fight  possible, 
and  succeeded  in  keeping  back  the  savages  until  the  women  and 
children  had  reached  a  place  of  comparative  safety ;  but  both 
Kennedy  and  Israel  were  killed,  and  a  number  of  others  killed 
or  wounded,  our  informant  being  one  of  the  latter,  with  a  severe 
cut  in  the  left  breast,  where  a  bullet  had  ploughed  round  his 
ribs  without  doing  very  serious  damage.  The  Apaches  fell  to 
plundering  the  wagons,  which  were  loaded  with  the  general 
supplies  that  ranchmen  were  in  those  days  compelled  to  keep  in 
stock,  for  feeding  the  numbers  of  employees  whom  they  had  to 
retain  to  cultivate  their  fields,  as  well  as  to  guard  them,  and  the 
Mexicans,  seeing  this,  made  off  as  fast  as  their  legs  could  carry 
them,  under  the  guidance  of  such  of  their  party  as  were  familiar 
with  the  trails  leading  across  the  Santa  Catalina  range  to  the 
San  Pedro  and  Camp  Grant.  One  of  these  trails  ran  by  way  of 
Apache  Springs  at  the  northern  extremity  of  the  range,  and  was 
easy  of  travel,  so  that  most  of  the  people  were  safe,  but  we  were 
strongly  urged  to  lose  no  time  in  getting  round  by  the  longer 
road,  along  which  the  Apaches  were  believed  to  have  pursued  a 
few  men. 

The  Mexican,  Domingo,  had  seen  Sergeants  Warfield  and 
Mott,  two  old  veterans,  on  his  way  through  the  post,  and  they, 
without  waiting  for  orders,  had  the  herd  run  in  and  saddles  got 
out  in  anticipation  of  what  their  experience  taught  them  was 
sure  to  come.  Every  man  who  could  be  put  on  horseback  was 
mounted  at  once,  without  regard  to  his  company  or  regiment, 
and  in  less  than  twenty  minutes  the  first  detachment  was  crossing 


THE  RESCUING  PARTY.  33 

the  San  Pedro  and  entering  the  long  defile  known  as  the  Santa 
Catalina  Canon — not  very  well  equipped  for  a  prolonged  cam 
paign,  perhaps,  as  some  of  the  men  had  no  water  in  canteens  and 
others  had  only  a  handful  of  crackers  for  rations,  but  that  made 
no  difference.  Our  business  was  to  rescue  women  and  children 
surrounded  by  savages,  and  to  do  it  with  the  least  delay  possible. 
At  least,  that  was  the  way  Colonel  Dubois  reasoned  on  the 
subject,  and  we  had  only  our  duty  to  do — obey  orders. 

A  second  detachment  would  follow  after  us,  with  a  wagon 
containing  water  in  kegs,  rations  for  ten  days,  medical  supplies, 
blankets,  and  every  other  essential  for  making  such  a  scout  as 
might  become  necessary. 

Forward  !  was  the  word,  and  every  heel  struck  flank  and  every 
horse  pressed  upon  the  bit.  Do  our  best,  we  couldn't  make  very 
rapid  progress  through  the  caflon,  which  for  its  total  length  of 
twelve  miles  was  heavy  with  shifting  sand. 

Wherever  there  was  a  stretch  of  hard  pan,  no  matter  how 
short,  we  got  the  best  time  out  of  it  that  was  possible.  The  dis 
tance  seemed  interminable,  but  we  pressed  on,  passing  the  Four- 
mile  "Walnut,  on  past  the  Cottonwood,  slipping  along  without  a 
word  under  the  lofty  walls  which  screened  us  from  the  rays  of  the 
sun,  although  the  afternoon  was  still  young.  But  in  much  less 
time  than  we  had  a  right  to  expect  we  had  reached  the  end  of  tlie 
bad  road,  and  halted  for  a  minute  to  have  all  loose  cinches  re- 
tightened  and  everything  made  ready  for  rapid  travelling  on  to 
the  Caflon  del  Oro. 

In  front  of  us  stretched  a  broken,  hilly  country,  bounded  on 
the  east  and  west  by  the  Tortolita  and  the  Sierra  Santa  Catalina 
respectively.  The  summer  was  upon  us,  but  the  glories  of  the 
springtime  had  not  yet  faded  from  the  face  of  the  desert,  which 
still  displayed  the  splendors  of  millions  of  golden  crocuses,  with 
countless  odorless  verbenas  of  varied  tints,  and  acres  upon  acres 
of  nutritious  grasses,  at  which  our  horses  nibbled  every  time  we 
halted  for  a  moment.  The  canon  of  the  Santa  Catalina  for  more 
than  four  miles  of  its  length  is  no  wider  than  an  ordinary  street 
in  a  city,  and  is  enclosed  by  walls  rising  one  thousand  feet  above 
the  trail.  Wherever  a  foothold  could  be  found,  there  the  thorny- 
branched  giant  cactus  stood  sentinel,  or  the  prickly  plates  of  the 
nopal  matted  the  face  of  the  escarpment.  High  up  on  the  wall 
of  the  cafion,  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  the  pitahayas  or 


24  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

giant  cacti  had  been  transfixed  by  the  true  aim  of  an  Apache 
arrow,  buried  up  to  the  feathers. 

For  the  beauties  or  eccentricities  of  nature  we  had  no  eyes.  All 
that  we  cared  to  know  was  how  long  it  would  take  to/  put  us 
where  the  train  had  been  ambushed  and  destroyed.  So,  on  we 
pushed,  taking  a  very  brisk  gait,  and  covering  the  ground  with 
rapidity. 

The  sun  was  going  down  in  a  blaze  of  scarlet  and  gold  behind 
the  Tortolita  Eange,  the  Canon  del  Oro  was  yet  several  miles 
away,  and  still  no  signs  of  the  party  of  which  we  were  in  such 
anxious  search.  "  They  must  have  been  nearer  the  Canon  del 
Oro  than  the  Mexican  thought,"  was  the  general  idea,  for  we  had 
by  this  time  gamed  the  long  mesa  upon  which  we  had  been  led 
to  believe  we  should  see  the  ruins  of  the  wagons. 

We  were  now  moving  at  a  fast  walk,  in  line,  with  carbines  at  an 
"advance,"  and  everything  ready  for  a  fight  to  begin  on  either 
flank  or  in  front,  as  the  case  might  be  ;  but  there  was  no  enemy 
in  sight.  We  deployed  as  skirmishers,  so  as  to  cover  as  much 
ground  as  possible,  and  pick  up  any  dead  body  that  might  be 
lying  behind  the  mesquite  or  the  palo  verde  which  lined  the  road. 
A  sense  of  gloom  spread  over  the  little  command,  which  had  been 
hoping  against  hope  to  find  the  survivors  alive  and  the  savages 
Still  at  bay.  But,  though  the  coyote  yelped  to  the  moon,  and 
flocks  of  quail  whirred  through  the  air  when  raised  from  their 
seclusion  in  the  bushes,  and  funereal  crows,  perched  upon  the 
tops  of  the  pitahayas,  croaked  dismal  salutations,  there  was  no 
sound  of  the  human  voices  we  longed  to  hear. 

But  don't  be  too  sure.  Is  that  a  coyote's  cry  or  the  wail  of  a 
fellow-creature  in  distress  ?  A  coyote,  of  course.  Yes,  it  is,  and 
no,  it  isn't.  Every  one  had  his  own  belief,  and  would  tolerate  no 
dissent.  "  Hel-lup  !  Hel-lup  !  My  God,  hel-lup  !  "  "  This  way, 
Mott !  Keep  the  rest  of  the  men  back  there  on  the  road."  In  less 
than  ten  seconds  we  had  reached  a  small  arroyo,  not  very  deep,  run 
ning  parallel  to  the  road  and  not  twenty  yards  from  it,  and  there, 
weak  and  faint  and  covered  with  his  own  blood,  was  our  poor, 
unfortunate  friend,  Kennedy.  He  was  in  the  full  possession  of 
his  faculties  and  able  to  recognize  every  one  whom  he  knew  and 
to  tell  a  coherent  story.  As  to  the  first  part  of  the  attack,  he 
concurred  with  Domingo,  but  he  furnished  the  additional  infor 
mation  that  as  soon  as  the  Apaches  saw  that  the  greater  number 


KENNEDY'S  BRAVE  FIGHT.  35 

of  the  party  had  withdrawn  with  the  women  and  children,  of 
whom  there  were  more  than  thirty  all  told,  they  made  a  bold 
charge  to  sweep  down  the  little  rear-guard  which  had  taken  its 
stand  behind  the  wagons.  Kennedy  was  sure  that  the  Apaches 
had  suffered  severely,  and  told  me  where  to  look  for  the  body  of 
the  warrior  who  had  killed  his  partner,  Israel.  Israel  had  re 
ceived  a  death-wound  in  the  head  which  brought  him  to  his 
knees,  but  before  he  gave  up  the  ghost  his  rifle,  already  in  posi 
tion  at  his  shoulder,  was  discharged  and  killed  the  tall,  muscular 
young  savage  who  appeared  to  be  leading  the  attack. 

Kennedy  kept  up  the  unequal  fight  as  long  as  he  could,  in  spite 
of  the  loss  of  the  thumb  of  his  left  hand,  shot  off  at  the  first 
volley  ;  but  when  the  Mexicans  at  each  side  of  him  fell,  he  drew 
his  knife,  cut  the  harness  of  the  " wheeler"  mule  nearest  him, 
sprang  into  the  saddle,  and  charged  right  through  the  Apaches 
advancing  a  second  time.  His  boldness  disconcerted  their  aim, 
but  they  managed  to  plant  an  arrow  in  his  breast  and  another 
in  the  ribs  of  his  mule,  which  needed  no  further  urging  to  break 
into  a  mad  gallop  over  every  rock  and  thorn  in  its  front.  Ken 
nedy  could  not  hold  the  bridle  with  his  left  hand,  and  the  pain 
in  his  lung  was  excruciating — "Jes'  like  >s  if  I'd  swallowed  a 
coal  o'  fire,  boys,"  he  managed  to  gasp,  half  inarticulately.  But 
he  had  run  the  mule  several  hundreds  of  yards,  and  was  beginning 
to  have  a  faint  hope  of  escaping,  when  a  bullet  from  his  pursuers 
struck  its  hind-quarters  and  pained  and  frightened  it  so  much 
that  it  bucked  him  over  its  head  and  plunged  off  to  one  side 
among  the  cactus  and  mesquite,  to  be  seen  no  more.  Kennedy, 
by  great  effort,  reached  the  little  arroyo  in  which  we  found  him, 
and  where  he  had  lain,  dreading  each  sound  and  expecting  each 
moment  to  hear  the  Apaches  coming  to  torture  him  to  death. 
His  fears  were  unfounded.  As  it  turned  out,  fortunately  for  all 
concerned,  the  Apaches  could  not  resist  the  temptation  to  plun 
der,  and  at  once  began  the  work  of  breaking  open  and  pilfering 
every  box  and  bundle  the  wagons  contained,  forgetting  all  about 
the  Mexicans  who  had  made  their  escape  to  the  foot-hills,  and 
Kennedy,  who  lay  so  very,  very  near  them. 

Half  a  dozen  good  men  were  left  under  command  of  a  sergeant 
to  take  care  of  Kennedy,  while  the  rest  hurried  forward  to  see 
what  was  to  be  seen  farther  to  the  front. 

It  was  a  ghastly  sight,  one  which  in  its  details  I  should  like  to 


26  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

spare  my  readers.  There  were  the  hot  embers  of  the  new  wagons, 
the  scattered  fragments  of  broken  boxes,  barrels,  and  packages  of 
all  sorts ;  copper  shells,  arrows,  bows,  one  or  two  broken  rifles, 
torn  and  burned  clothing.  There  lay  all  that  was  mortal  of 
poor  Israel,  stripped  of  clothing,  a  small  piece  cut  from  the  crown 
of  the  head,  but  thrown  back  upon  the  corpse — the  Apaches  do 
not  care  much  for  scalping — his  heart  cut  out,  but  also  thrown  back 
near  the  corpse,  which  had  been  dragged  to  the  fire  of  the  burn 
ing  wagons  and  had  been  partly  consumed  ;  a  lance  wound  in  the 
back,  one  or  two  arrow  wounds— they  may  have  been  lance  wounds, 
too,  but  were  more  likely  arrow  wounds,  the  arrows  which  made 
them  having  been  burned  out ;  there  were  plenty  of  arrows  lying 
around — a  severe  contusion  under  the  left  eye,  where  he  had  been 
hit  perhaps  with  the  stock  of  a  rifle  or  carbine,  and  the  death 
wound  from  ear  to  ear,  through  which  the  brain  had  oozed. 

The  face  was  as  calm  and  resolute  in  death  as  Israel  had  been 
in  life.  He  belonged  to  a  class  of  frontiersmen  of  which  few 
representatives  now  remain — the  same  class  to  which  belonged 
men  like  Pete  Kitchen,  the  Duncans,  of  the  San  Pedro ;  Darrel 
Duppa  and  Jack  Townsend,  of  the  Agua  Fria  ;  men  whose  lives 
were  a  romance  of  adventure  and  danger,  unwritten  because  they 
never  frequented  the  towns,  where  the  tenderfoot  correspondent 
would  be  more  likely  to  fall  in  with  some  border  Munchausen, 
whose  tales  of  privation  and  peril  would  be  in  the  direct  ratio  of 
the  correspondent's  receptivity  and  credulity. 

It  was  now  too  dark  to  do  anything  more,  so  we  brought  up 
Kennedy,  who  seemed  in  such  good  spirits  that  we  were  certain  he 
would  pull  through,  as  we  could  not  realize  that  he  had  been  hit 
by  an  arrow  at  all,  but  tried  to  console  him  with  the  notion  that 
the  small  round  hole  in  his  chest,  from  which  little  if  any  blood 
had  flown,  had  been  made  by  a  buck-shot  or  something  like  it. 
But  Kennedy  knew  better.  "  No,  boys,"  he  said  sadly,  shaking 
his  head,  "  it's  all  up  with  me.  I'm  a  goner.  I  know  it  was  an 
arrow,  'cause  I  broke  the  feather  end  off.  I'm  goin'  to  die." 

Sentinels  were  posted  behind  the  bushes,  and  the  whole  com 
mand  sat  down  to  keep  silent  watch  for  the  coming  of  the 
morrow.  The  Apaches  might  double  back — there  was  no  know 
ing  what  they  might  do — and  it  was  best  to  be  on  our  guard. 
The  old  rule  of  the  frontier,  as  I  learned  it  from  men  like  Joe 
Felmer,  Oscar  Hutton,  and  Manuel  Duran,  amounted  to  this : 


RETURNING  TO  CAMP.  27 

"  When  you  see  Apache  '  sign/  be  Jceerful ;  V  when  you  don'  see 
nary  sign,  be  more  keerful." 

The  stars  shone  out  in  their  grandest  effulgence,  and  the 
feeble  rays  of  the  moon  were  no  added  help  to  vision.  There  is 
only  one  region  in  the  whole  world,  Arizona,  where  the  full 
majesty  can  be  comprehended  of  that  text  of  Holy  Writ  which 
teaches  :  "  The  Heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firma 
ment  showeth  His  handiwork."  Midnight  had  almost  come,  when 
the  rumble  of  wheels,  the  rattle  of  harness,  and  the  cracking  of 
whips  heralded  the  approach  of  wagons  and  ambulance  and  the 
second  detachment  of  cavalry.  They  brought  orders  from  Colo 
nel  Dubois  to  return  to  the  post  as  soon  as  the  animals  had 
had  enough  rest,  and  then  as  fast  as  possible,  to  enable  all  to 
start  in  pursuit  of  the  Apaches,  whose  trail  had  been  "cut "a 
mile  or  two  above  Felmer's,  showing  that  they  had  crossed  the 
Santa  Oatalina  Range,  and  were  making  for  the  precipitous  coun 
try  close  to  the  head  of  the  Aravaypa. 

The  coming  day  found  our  party  astir  and  hard  at  work. 
First,  we  hunted  up  the  body  of  the  Apache  who  had  shot 
Israel.  Lieutenant  George  Bacon,  First  Cavalry,  found  it  on  a 
shelf  of  rock,  in  a  ravine  not  a  hundred  yards  from  where  the 
white  enemy  lay,  shot,  as  Israel  was,  through  the  head.  We  did 
not  disturb  it,  but  as  much  cannot  be  averred  of  the  hungry 
and  expectant  coyotes  and  the  raw-necked  buzzards,  which  had 
already  begun  to  draw  near. 

The  trail  of  the  savages  led  straight  toward  the  Santa  Cata- 
lina,  and  a  hurried  examination  disclosed  a  very  curious  fact, 
which  later  on  was  of  great  importance  to  the  troops  in  pursuit. 
There  had  been  a  case  of  patent  medicine  in  the  wagons,  and 
the  Apaches  had  drunk  the  contents  of  the  bottles,  under  the 
impression  that  they  contained  whiskey.  The  result  was  that,  as 
the  signs  showed,  there  were  several  of  the  Indians  seriously 
incapacitated  from  alcoholic  stimulant  of  some  kind,  which  had 
served  as  the  menstruum  for  the  drugs  of  the  nostrum.  They 
had  staggered  from  cactus  to  cactus,  falling  into  mesquite,  in 
contempt  of  the  thorns  on  the  branches,  and  had  lain  sprawled 
at  full  length  in  the  sand,  oblivious  of  the  danger  incurred.  It 
would  have  been  a  curious  experience  for  the  raiders  could  we 
have  arrived  twenty-four  hours  sooner. 

Fully  an  hour  was  consumed  in  getting  the  horses  and  mules 


28  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

down  to  the  water  in  the  Canon  del  Oro,  and  in  making  a  cup  of 
coffee,  for  which  there  was  the  water  brought  along  in  the  kegs 
in  the  wagons.  Everything  and  everybody  was  all  right,  except 
ing  Kennedy,  who  was  beginning  to  act  and  talk  strangely ;  first 
exhilarated  and  then  excited,  petulant  and  despondent.  His  suf 
ferings  were  beginning  to  tell  upon  him,  and  he  manifested  a 
strange  aversion  to  being  put  in  the  same  vehicle  with  a  dead  man. 
"We  made  the  best  arrangement  possible  for  the  comfort  of  our 
wounded  friend,  for  whom  it  seemed  that  the  ambulance  would 
be  the  proper  place.  But  the  jolting  and  the  upright  position  he 
was  compelled  to  take  proved  too  much  for  him,  and  he  begged 
to  be  allowed  to  recline  at  full  length  in  one  of  the  wagons. 

His  request  was  granted  at  once  ;  only,  as  it  happened,  he  was 
lifted  into  the  wagon  in  which  the  stiff,  stark  corpse  of  Israel 
was  glaring  stonily  at  the  sky.  A  canvas  'paulin  was  stretched 
over  the  corpse,  half  a  dozen  blankets  spread  out  to  make  as  soft 
a  couch  as  could  be  expected,  and  then  Kennedy  was  lifted  in, 
and  the  homeward  march  resumed  with  rapid  gait.  Animals 
and  men  were  equally  anxious  to  leave  far  in  the  rear  a  scene 
of  such  horror,  and  without  whip  or  spur  we  rolled  rapidly  over 
the  gravelly  "mesa,"  until  we  got  to  the  head  of  the  Santa 
Catalina  Canon,  and  even  there  we  progressed  satisfactorily,  as, 
notwithstanding  the  deep  sand,  it  was  all  down  grade  into  the 
post. 

In  crossing  the  San  Pedro,  the  wagon  in  which  Kennedy  was 
riding  gave  a  lurch,  throwing  him  to  one  side  ;  to  keep  himself 
from  being  bumped  against  the  side,  he  grasped  the  first  thing 
within  reach,  and  this  happened  to  be  the  cold,  clammy  ankle 
of  the  corpse.  One  low  moan,  or,  rather,  a  groan,  was  all  that 
showed  Kennedy's  consciousness  of  the  undesirable  companion 
ship  of  his  ride.  The  incident  didn't  really  make  very  much  dif 
ference,  however,  as  his  last  hours  were  fast  drawing  near,  and 
Death  had  already  summoned  him.  He  breathed  his  last  in  the 
post  hospital  before  midnight.  An  autopsy  revealed  the  presence 
of  a  piece  of  headless  arrow,  four  or  five  inches  long,  lodged  in 
the  left  lung. 

The  funeral  ceremonies  did  not  take  much  time.  There  was 
no  lumber  in  that  section  of  country  for  making  coffins.  Pack 
ing  boxes,  cracker  boxes,  anything  that  could  be  utilized,  were 
made  to  serve  the  purpose,  and  generally  none  were  used.  The 


KENNEDY'S  DEATH.  AND  BURIAL.  39 

whole  garrison  turned  out.  A  few  words  from  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer — "Man  that  is  born  of  woman/'  etc.;  a  few 
clods  of  earth  rattling  down ;  then  a  layer  of  heavy  rocks  and 
spiny  cactus,  to  keep  the  coyotes  from  digging  up 'the  bones; 
more  earth ;  and  all  was  over,  excepting  the  getting  ready  for 
the  pursuit. 

This  was  to  be  prosecuted  by  Lieutenant  Howard  B.  Cushing, 
an  officer  of  wonderful  experience  in  Indian  warfare,  who  with 
his  troop,  "F"  of  the  Third  Cavalry,  had  killed  more  savages  of 
the  Apache  tribe  than  any  other  officer  or  troop  of  the  United 
States  Army  has  done  before  or  since.  During  the  latter  days 
of  the  preceding  fall,  1869,  he  had  struck  a  crushing  blow  at 
the  courage  of  the  Apaches  infesting  the  country  close  to  the 
Guadalupe  Range  in  southwestern  Texas,  and  had  killed  and 
wounded  many  of  the  adults,  and  captured  a  number  of  children 
and  a  herd  of  ponies. 

But  Lieutenant  Franklin  Yeaton,  a  brave  and  exceedingly 
able  officer,  just  out  of  West  Point,  was  fatally  wounded  on  our 
side,  and  the  more  Cushing  brooded  over  the  matter,  the  hotter 
flamed  his  anger,  until  he  could  stand  it  no  longer,  but  resolved 
to  slip  back  across  country  and  try  his  luck  over  again.  He  had 
hauled  Yeaton  and  the  rest  of  the  wounded  for  four  marches  on 
rudely  improvised  "travois"  across  the  snow,  which  lay  unusu 
ally  deep  that  winter,  until  he  found  a  sheltered  camping-place 
near  the  PefLasco,  a  branch  of  the  Pecos,  where  he  left  his  impedi 
menta  under  a  strong  guard,  and  with  the  freshest  horses  and  men 
turned  back,  rightly  surmising  that  the  hostiles  would  have  given 
up  following  him,  and  would  be  gathered  in  their  ruined  camp, 
bewailing  the  loss  of  kindred. 

He  had  guessed  rightly,  and  at  the  earliest  sign  of  morning  in 
the  east  was  once  again  leading  his  men  to  the  attack  upon  the 
Apaches,  who,  not  knowing  what  to  make  of  such  an  utterly  unex 
pected  onslaught,  fled  in  abject  terror,  leaving  many  dead  on  the 
ground  behind  them. 

All  this  did  not  exactly  compensate  for  the  loss  of  Yeaton,  but 
it  served  to  let  out  some  of  Cushing's  superfluous  wrath,  and  keep 
him  from  exploding. 

Cushing  belonged  to  a  family  which  won  deserved  renown  dur 
ing  the  War  of  the  Rebellion.  One  brother  blew  up  the  ram  Albe- 
marle;  another  died  most  heroically  at  his  post  of  duty  on  the 


30  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

battle-field  of  Gettysburg  ;  there  was  still  another  in  the  navy 
who  died  in  service,  I  do  not  remember  where  ;  and  the  one  of 
whom  I  am  speaking,  who  was  soon  to  die  at  the  hands  of  the 
Apaches,  and  deserves  more  than  a  passing  word. 

He  was  about  five  feet  seven  in  height,  spare,  sinewy,  active 
as  a  cat ;  slightly  stoop-shouldered,  sandy  complexioned,  keen 
gray  or  bluish-gray  eyes,  which  looked  you  through  when  he 
spoke  and  gave  a  slight  hint  of  the  determination,  coolness,  and 
energy  which  had  made  his  name  famous  all  over  the  southwestern 
border.  There  is  an  alley  named  after  him  in  Tucson,  and  there 
is,  or  was,  when  last  I  saw  it,  a  tumble-down,  worm-eaten  board 
to  mark  his  grave,  and  that  was  all  to  show  where  the  great 
American  nation  had  deposited  the  remains  of  one  of  its  bravest. 

But  I  am  anticipating  altogether  too  much,  and  should  be  get 
ting  ready  to  follow  the  trail  of  the  marauders.  Gushing  didn't 
seem  to  be  in  any  particular  hurry  about  starting,,  and  I  soon 
learned  that  he  intended  taking  his  ease  about  it,  as  he  wanted 
to  let  the  Indians  be  thrown  off  their  guard  completely  and  imag 
ine  that  the  whites  were  not  following  their  trail.  Let  them 
once  suspect  that  a  party  was  in  pursuit,  and  they  would  surely 
break  up  their  trail  and  scatter  like  quail,  and  no  one  then  could 
hope  to  do  anything  with  them. 

Every  hoof  was  carefully  looked  at,  and  every  shoe  tacked  on 
tight ;  a  few  extra  shoes  for  the  fore-feet  were  taken  along  in  the 
pack  train,  with  fifteen  days'  rations  of  coffee,  hard  tack,  and 
bacon,  and  one  hundred  rounds  of  ammunition. 

All  that  could  be  extracted  from  the  Mexicans  in  the  way  of 
information  was  pondered  over,  and  submitted  to  the  considera 
tion  of  Felmer  and  Manuel  Duran,  the  guides  who  were  to  con 
duct  the  column.  Some  of  the  Mexican  men  were  composed  and 
fully  recovered  from  the  effects  of  their  terrible  experience,  and 
those  who  were  wounded  were  doing  well ;  but  the  women  still 
trembled  at  the  mere  name  of  an  Apache,  and  several  of  them 
did  nothing  but  tell  their  beads  in  gratitude  to  Heaven  for  the 
miracle  of  their  escape. 

In  Arizona,  New  Mexico,  and  southwestern  Texas  it  has  been 
remarked  that  one  has  to  ascend  the  bed  of  a  stream  in  order  to 
get  water.  This  rule  is  especially  true  of  the  Aravaypa.  There  is 
not  a  drop,  as  a  usual  thing,  at  its  mouth,  but  if  you  ascend  the 
cafion  five  or  six  miles,  the  current  trickles  above  the  sand,  and 


AGAIN  ON  THE  TRAIL.  31 

a  mile  or  two  more  will  bring  you  to  a  stream  of  very  respectable 
dimensions,  flowing  over  rocky  boulders  of  good  size,  between 
towering  walls  which  screen  from  the  sun,  and  amid  scenery  which 
is  picturesque,  romantic,  and  awe-inspiring.  The  raiders  left  the 
caflon  of  the  Aravaypa  at  its  most  precipitous  part,  not  far  from 
the  gypsum  out-crop,  and  made  a  straight  shoot  for  the  mouth  of 
the  San  Carlos.  This,  however,  was  only  a  blind,  and  inside  of 
three  miles  there  was  no  trail  left,  certainly  not  going  in  the  direc 
tion  of  Mount  Turnbull. 

Manuel  Duran  was  not  at  all  worried  ;  he  was  an  Apache  him 
self,  and  none  of  the  tricks  of  the  trade  had  the  slightest  effect 
upon  his  equanimity.  He  looked  over  the  ground  carefully.  Ah  ! 
here  is  a  stone  which  has  been  overturned  in  its  place,  and  here 
some  one  has  cut  that  branch  of  mesquite  ;  and  here — look  !  we 
have  it,  the  shod-hoof  track  of  one  of  Israel's  mules  !  There  is 
nothing  the  matter  at  all.  The  Apaches  have  merely  scattered 
and  turned,  and  instead  of  going  toward  the  junction  of  the  Gala 
and  the  San  Carlos,  have  bent  to  the  west  and  started  straight  for 
the  mouth  of  the  San  Pedro,  going  down  by  the  head  of  Deer 
Creek,  and  over  to  the  Eock  Creek,  which  rises  in  the  "Dos 
Narices  "  Mountain,  not  twelve  miles  from  Grant  itself.  Patient 
search,  watching  every  blade  of  grass,  every  stone  or  bush,  and 
marching  constantly,  took  the  command  to  the  mouth  of  the  San 
Pedro,  across  the  Grila,  up  to  the  head  of  the  Disappointment 
Creek,  in  the  Mescal  Mountains,  and  over  into  the  foot-hills  of 
the  Pinal— and  not  into  the  foot-hills  merely,  but  right  across 
the  range  at  its  highest  point. 

The  Apaches  were  evidently  a  trifle  nervous,  and  wanted  to 
make  as  big  a  circuit  as  possible  to  bewilder  pursuers ;  but  all 
their  dodges  were  vain.  From  the  top  of  the  Pinal  a  smoke  was 
detected  rising  in  the  valley  to  the  north  and  east,  and  shortly 
afterward  the  evidence  that  a  party  of  squaws  and  children, 
laden  with  steamed  mescal,  had  joined  the  raiders,  and  no  doubt 
were  to  remain  with  them  until  they  got  home,  if  they, were  not 
already  home. 

Gushing  would  hardly  wait  till  the  sun  had  hidden  behind  the 
Superstition  Mountains  or  the  Matitzal  before  he  gave  the  order 
to  move  on.  Manuel  was  more  prudent,  and  not  inclined  to 
risk  anything  by  undue  haste. 

He  would  wait  all  night  before  he  would  risk  disappointment  in 


32  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

an  attack  upon  an  enemy  whom  he  had  followed  so  far.  Man 
uel  wouldn't  allow  any  of  the  Americans  to  come  near  while  he 
made  his  preparations  for  peeping  over  the  crest  of  the  "divide." 
Tying  a  large  wisp  of  palmilla  or  bear's  grass  about  his  head,  he 
crawled  or  wriggled  on  hands  and  knees  to  the  position  giving 
the  best  view  down  the  valley,  and  made  all  the  observations  de 
sired. 

The  night  was  long  and  cold  and  dark,  and  the  men  had  been 
at  least  an  hour  in  position  overlooking  the  smouldering  fires  of 
the  enemy,  and  ready  to  begin  the  attaek  the  moment  that  it 
should  be  light  enough  to  see  one's  hand  in  front  of  him,  when 
an  accidental  occurrence  precipitated  an  engagement. 

One  of  the  old  men — one  of  the  party  of  mescal  gatherers  who 
had  joined  the  returning  war-party — felt  cold  and  arose  from  his 
couch  to  stir  the  embers  into  a  blaze.  The  light  played  fitfully 
upon  his  sharp  features  and  gaunt  form,  disclosing  every  muscle. 

To  get  some  additional  fuel,  he  advanced  toward  the  spot 
where  Gushing  crouched  down  awaiting  the  favorable  moment  for 
giving  the  signal  to  fire.  The  savage  suspects  something,  peers 
ahead  a  little,  and  is  satisfied  that  there  is  danger  close  by.  He 
turns  to  escape,  crying  out  that  the  Americans  have  come,  and 
awakening  all  in  the  camp. 

The  soldiers  raised  a  terrific  yell  and  poured  in  a  volley  which 
laid  low  a  number  of  the  Apaches  ;  the  latter  scarcely  tried  to 
fight  in  the  place  where  they  stood,  as  the  light  of  the  fire  made 
their  presence  perfectly  plain  to  the  attacking  party.  ,So  their 
first  idea  was  to  seek  a  shelter  in  the  rocks  from  which  to 
pick  off  the  advancing  skirmishers.  In  this  they  were  unsuc 
cessful,  and  death  and  ruin  rained  down  upon  them.  They 
made  the  best  fight  they  could,  but  they  could  do  nothing. 
Manuel  saw  something  curious  rushing  past  him  in  the  gloom. 
He  brought  rifle  to  shoulder  and  fired,  and,  as  it  turned  out, 
killed  two  at  one  shot — a  great  strong  warrior,  and  the  little 
boy  of  five  or  six  years  old  whom  he  had  seized,  and  was  trying 
to  hurry  to  a  place  of  safety,  perched  upon  his  shoulders. 

It  was  a  ghastly  spectacle,  a  field  of  blood  won  with  but  slight 
.loss  to  ourselves.  But  I  do  not  care  to  dilate  upon  the  scene,  as 
it  is  my  intention  to  give  only  a  meagre  outline  description  of 
what  Arizona  was  like  prior  to  the  assignment  of  General  Crook 
to  the  command.  The  captured  women  and  boys  stated  they 


ROUT   OF  THE  RAIDERS.  33 

were  a  band  of  Finals  who  had  just  returned  from  a  raid  down 
into  Sonora  before  making  the  attack  upon  the  wagons  of  Ken 
nedy  and  Israel.  Some  of  their  bravest  warriors  were  along,  and 
they  would  have  made  a  determined  fight  had  they  not  all  been 
more  or  less  under  the  influence  of  the  stuff  they  had  swallowed 
out  of  the  bottles  captured  with  the  train.  Many  had  been  very 
drunk,  and  all  had  been  sickened,  and  were  not  in  condition  to 
look  out  for  surprise  as  they  ordinarily  did.  They  had  thought 
that  by  doubling  across  the  country  from  point  to  point,  any 
Americans  who  might  try  to  follow  would  surely  be  put  off  the 
scent ;  they  did  not  know  that  there  were  Apaches  with  the 
soldiers. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  RETURN  TO  CAMP  GRANT — LANCED  TO  DEATH  BY  APACHES 
— THE  KILLING  OF  MILLER  AND  TAPPAN — COMPANY  QUAR 
TERS  —  APACHE  CAPTIVES  —  THE  CLOUD-BURST  —  APACHE 
CORN-FIELDS — MEETING  COLONEL  SANFORD — ENTRAPPED  IN 
AN  APACHE  AMBUSCADE— AN  OLD-TIMER'S  REMINISCENCES 
OF  TUCSON — FUNERAL  CROSSES  ON  THE  ROADSIDE — PADRE 
EUSEBIO  KINO — FIRST  VIEW  OF  TUCSON — THE  "  SHOO  FLY  " 
RESTAURANT. 

OF  the  return  march  very  little  need  be  said.  The  story 
would  become  too  long,  and  there  would  be  needless  repe 
tition  if  an  attempt  were  to  be  made  to  describe  each  scout  in 
detail.  There  are  others  to  come  of  much  more  importance,  and 
covering  the  same  region,  so  that  the  reader  will  lose  nothing  by 
the  omission. 

There  was  the  usual  amount  of  rough  mountain  climbing, 
wearing  out  shoes  and  patience  and  nerve  strength  all  at  one  and 
the  same  time  ;  there  was  the  usual  deprivation  of  water  to  be 
expected  in  the  arid  wastes  of  southern  Arizona,  where  springs 
are  few  and  far  between  ;  there  were  the  usual  tricks  for  getting 
along  without  much  to  drink,  such  as  putting  a  pebble  or  twig  in 
the  mouth  to  induce  a  more  copious  flow  of  saliva  ;  and  when 
camp  was  made  and  the  water  was  found  to  be  not  all  that  it 
might  be,  there  were  other  tricks  for  cleaning  it,  or,  at  least,  caus 
ing  a  deposition  of  the  earthy  matter  held  in  suspension,  by  cut 
ting  up  a  few  plates  of  the  nopal  and  letting  them  remain  in  the 
kettle  for  a  short  time,  until  their  mucilaginous  juice  had  precip 
itated  everything.  But  a  still  better  plan  was  to  improve  the 
good  springs,  which  was  a  labor  of  love  with  officers  and  men, 
and  many  a  fine  water  hole  in  Arizona  has  been  the  scene  of 
much  hard  work  in  digging  out,  building  up  with  cracker  boxes 
or  something  to  hold  the  water  and  keep  it  from  soaking  into 
the  earth. 


ARIZONA  HEAT.  35 

Camp  Grant  was  reached  at  last,  and  the  prisoners  turned  over 
to  the  care  of  the  guard,  and  Lieutenant  Gushing,  his  first  duty 
in  the  Territory  accomplished  with  so  much  credit  to  himself  and 
his  men,  made  ready  to  start  out  on  another  and  a  longer  trip 
just  as  soon  as  the  signal  should  be  given  by  the  post  commander. 

Our  troop  was  peculiarly  situated.  It  had  a  second  mount  of 
ponies,  captured  from  the  Apaches  against  whom  Gushing  had 
done  such  good  service  in  southwestern  Texas.  Orders  came 
down  in  due  time  from  San  Francisco  to  turn  them  in  and  have 
them  sold  by  the  quartermaster ;  but  until  these  orders  came — 
and  owing  to  the  slowness  of  mail  communications  in  those  days, 
they  did  not  come  for  several  months — we  had  the  advantage  of 
being  able  to  do  nearly  twice  as  much  work  as  troops  less  fort 
unately  placed. 

The  humdrum  life  of  any  post  in  Arizona  in  those  days  was 
enough  to  drive  one  crazy.  The  heat  in  most  of  them  became 
simply  unendurable,  although  here  the  great  dryness  of  the  at 
mosphere  proved  a  benefit.  Had  the  air  been  humid,  very  few 
of  our  garrison  would  now  be  alive  to  tell  of  temperatures  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  and  over,  and  of  days  during  the  whole 
twenty-four  hours  of  which  the  thermometer  did  not  register 
below  the  one  hundred  notch. 

There  was  a  story  current  that  the  heat  had  one  time  become 
so  excessive  that  two  thermometers  had  to  be  strapped  together 
to  let  the  mercury  have  room  to  climb.  That  was  before  my 
arrival,  and  is  something  for  which  I  do  not  care  to  vouch.  I 
give  the  story  as  it  was  given  to  me  by  my  friend,  Jack  Long, 
of  whom  I  am  soon  to  speak. 

In  every  description  of  Arizona  that  I  have  ever  seen,  and  I 
claim  to  be  familiar  with  most  if  not  all  that  has  appeared  in 
print,  there  occurs  the  story  of  the  soldier  who  came  back  to  Fort 
Yuma  after  his  blankets,  finding  the  next  world  too  cold  to  suit 
him.  I  make  reference  to  the  story  because  many  worthy  people 
would  find  it  hard  to  believe  that  a  man  had  been  in  Arizona  who 
did  not  tell  this  story  in  his  first  chapter,  but  it  has  grown  to  be 
such  a  mouldy  military  chestnut  that  I  may  be  pardoned  for  omit 
ting  it. 

There  were  all  kinds  of  methods  of  killing  the  hours.  One 
that  interested  everybody  for  a  while  was  the  battles  which  we 
stirred  up  between  the  nests  of  red  and  black  ants,  which  could 


36  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

be  found  in  plenty  and  of  great  size  close  to  the  post.  I  have 
seen  the  nests  in  question  three  or  four  feet  high,  and  not  less 
than  six  feet  long,  crowded  with  industrious  population.  The 
way  to  start  the  battle  was  to  make  a  hole  in  each  nest  and 
insert  cans  which  had  lately  been  emptied  of  peaches  or  other 
sweets. 

These  would  soon  fill  with  the  battalions  of  the  two  colors, 
and  could  then  be  poured  into  a  basin,  where  the  combat  a 
outrance  never  failed  to  begin  at  once.  The  red  ants  were 
much  the  braver,  and  one  of  that  color  would  tackle  two,  and 
even  three,  of  the  black.  If  the  rumpus  lasted  for  any  length  of 
time,  queens  would  appear,  as  if  to  superintend  what  was  going 
on.  At  least,  that  was  our  impression  when  we  saw  the  large- 
bodied,  yellow-plush  insects  sallying  from  the  depths  of  the 
nests. 

We  had  not  been  back  in  the  post  a  week  before  we  had  some 
thing  to  talk  about.  A  Mexican  who  was  doing  some  work  for 
the  Government  came  up  to  confer  with  the  commanding  officer 
as  to  details,  lie  left  the  adjutant's  office  before  mid-day,  and 
had  not  gone  one  thousand  yards — less,  indeed,  than  rifle-shot — 
from  the  door,  when  an  Apache,  lurking  in  ambush  behind  a 
clump  of  palmilla,  pierced  him  through  and  through  with  a 
lance,  and  left  him  dead,  weltering  in  his  own  blood.  To  attempt 
pursuit  was  worse  than  useless,  and  all  we  could  do  was  to  bury 
the  victim. 

It  was  this  peculiarity  of  the  Apaches  that  made  them  such  a 
terror  to  all  who  came  in  contact  with  them,  and  had  compelled 
the  King  of  Spain  to  maintain  a  force  of  four  thousand  dragoons 
to  keep  in  check  a  tribe  of  naked  savages,  who  scorned  to  wear 
any  protection  against  the  bullets  of  the  Castilians,  who  would 
not  fight  when  pursued,  but  scattered  like  their  own  crested 
mountain  quail,  and  then  hovered  on  the  flanks  of  the  whites, 
and  were  far  more  formidable  when  dispersed  than  when  they 
were  moving  in  compact  bodies.  This  was  simply  the  best  mil 
itary  policy  for  the  Apaches  to  adopt — wear  out  the  enemy  by 
vexatious  tactics,  and  by  having  the  pursuit  degenerate  into  a 
will-o'-th'-wisp  chase.  The  Apaches  could  find  food  on  every  hill 
side,  and  the  water-holes,  springs,  and  flowing  streams  far  up  in 
the  mountains  were  perfectly  well  known  to  them. 

The  Caucasian  troops,  of  whatever  nationality,  would  wander 


APACHE  TACTICS. 


37 


about,  half-crazed  with  thirst,  and  maddened  by  the  heat  of  the 
day  or  chilled  by  the  cold  winds  of  night  in  the  mountains,  and 
unable  to  tell  which  plants  were  of  value  as  food  and  which 
were  not. 

The  Apache  was  in  no  sense  a  coward.  He  knew  his  business, 
and  played  his  cards  to  suit  himself.  He  never  lost  a  shot,  and 
netfer  lost  a  warrior  in  a  fight  where  a  brisk  run  across  the 
nearest  ridge  would  save  his  life  and  exhaust  the  heavily  clad 
soldier  who  endeavored  to  catch  him.  Apaches  in  groups  of  two 
and  three,  and  even  individual  Apaches,  were  wont  to  steal  in 
close  to  the  military  posts  and  ranch os,  and  hide  behind  some 
sheltering  rock,  or  upon  the  summit  of  some  conveniently  sit 
uated  hill,  and  there  remain  for  days,  scanning  the  movements 
of  the  Americans  below,  and  waiting  for  a  chance  to  stampede 
a  herd,  or  kill  a  herder  or  two,  or  "jump"  a  wagon-train. 

They  knew  how  to  disguise  themselves  so  thoroughly  that  one 
might  almost  step  upon  a  warrior  thus  occupied  before  he  could 
detect  his  presence.  Stripped  naked,  with  head  and  shoulders 
wrapped  up  in  a  bundle  of  yucca  shoots  or  "  sacaton  "  grass,  and 
with  body  rubbed  over  with  the  clay  or  sand  along  which  it 
wriggled  as  sinuously  and  as  venomously  as  the  rattler  itself,  the 
Apache  could  and  did  approach  to  within  ear-shot  of  the  whites, 
and  even  entered  the  enclosures  of  the  military  camps,  as  at  Grant 
and  Crittenden,  where  we  on  several  occasions  discovered  his 
foot-prints  alongside  the  "ollas,"  or  water-jars. 

On  such  occasions  he  preferred  to  employ  his  lance  or  bow, 
because  these  made  no  sound,  and  half  or  even  a  whole  day  might 
elapse  before  the  stiffened  and  bloody  corpse  of  the  herder  or 
wagoner  would  be  found,  and  the  presence  of  Indians  in  the 
vicinity  become  known.  At  least  twenty  such  examples  could  be 
given  from  my  own  knowledge,  occurring  at  Prescott,  Tucson, 
Camp  Grant,  Camp  Crittenden,  Tres  Alamos,  Florence,  "William 
son's  Valley,  and  elsewhere.  They  were  regarded  as  the  natural 
features  of  the  country,  and  every  settler  rather  expected  them  as 
a  matter  of  course.  Well  did  Torquemada,  the  Spanish  writer 
(A.D.  1709),  deplore  the  inability  of  the  Spaniards  to  make  head 
way  against  this  tribe  of  naked  savages. 

Californians  old  enough  to  remember  the  days  when  San 
Francisco  had  a  Mining  Stock  Exchange,  may  recall  the  names  of 


38          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Lent  and  Harpending,  who  were  two  of  the  most  prominent  of  the 
members.  An  expedition,  equipped  at  the  expense  of  these  gen 
tlemen,  made  its  way  into  Arizona  to  examine  the  mining  "  pros 
pects  "  discovered  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Bowie.  They  had  to 
come  overland,  of  course,,  as  there  were  no  railroads,  and  wagons 
had  to  be  taken  from  Los  Angeles,  the  terminal  point  of  steamer 
navigation,  unless  people  preferred  to  keep  on  down  to  San 
Diego,  and  then  cross  the  desert,  via  Fort  Yuma,  and  on  up  the 
dusty  valley  of  the  Gila  River  to  Tucson  or  Florence.  The 
party  of  which  I  am  now  speaking  was  under  the  command  of 
two  gentlemen,  one  named  Gatchell  and  the  other  Curtis,  from 
the  Comstock  Mines  in  Nevada,  and  had  reached  and  passed  the 
picturesque  little  adobe  town  of  Florence,  on  the  Gila,  and  was 
progressing  finely  on  the  road  toward  Tucson,  when  "  Cocheis," 
the  bold  leader  of  the  Chiricahuas,  on  his  march  up  from  Sonora 
to  trade  stolen  horses  and  have  a  talk  with  the  Finals,  swooped 
down  upon  them.  It  was  the  old,  old  Arizona  story.  No  one 
suspected  danger,  because  there  had  been  no  signs  of  Indians  on 
the  trip  since  leaving  the  villages  of  the  peaceful  Pimas,  on  the 
Gila,  near  Maricopa  Wells. 

It  was  a  perfect  duplication  of  the  Kennedy-Israel  affair, 
almost  to  the  slightest  details.  Mr.  Curtis  received  a  bad  wound 
in  the  lungs.  Mr.  Gatchell  was  also  wounded,  but  how  severely 
I  cannot  remember,  for  the  very  good  reason  that  there  was  so 
much  of  that  kind  of  thing  going  on  during  the  period  of  my 
stay  at  Camp  Grant  that  it  is  really  impossible  to  avoid  mixing 
up  some  of  the  minor  details  of  the  different  incidents  so  closely 
resembling  one  another. 

When  this  party  reached  the  post  of  Camp  Grant  they  could 
easily  have  demanded  the  first  prize  at  a  tramp  show  ;  they  were 
not  clothed  in  rags — they  were  not  clothed  in  anything.  When 
they  escaped  .from  the  wagon-train  they  were  wearing  nothing 
but  underclothing,  on  account  of  the  excessive  heat  of  the  day  ; 
when  they  got  into  Camp  Grant  most  of  the  underwear  had 
disappeared,  torn  off  by  the  cactus,  palo  verde,  mesquite,  mescal, 
and  other  thorny  vegetation  run  against  in  their  flight.  Their 
feet  evidenced  the  rough,  stony  nature  of  the  ground  over  which 
they  had  tramped  and  bumped,  and  thorns  stuck  in  their  legs, 
feet,  and  arms.  There  was  not  much  done  for  these  poor 
wretches,  all  of  whom  seemed  to  be  gentlemen  of  education  and 


THE  WOUNDED  SOLDIER'S  TRAIL.  39 

refinement.  We  shared  the  misery  of  the  post  with  them,  which 
was  about  all  we  could  pretend  to  do.  Vacant  rooms  were  found 
for  them  in  the  Israel  ranch.,  and  there  they  stayed  for  a  few  days, 
just  long  enough  for  every  one  to  catch  the  fever. 

Before  we  start  out  in  pursuit  of  the  attacking  Apaches,  let  me 
relate  the  story  told  all  over  southern  Arizona  about  the  spot 
where  this  Gratchell-Curtis  train  had  been  surprised.  It  was 
known  as  the  scene  of  the  ambuscade  of  the  Miller-Tappan  detail, 
and  frontier  tale-tellers  used  to  while  away  the  sultry  hours  imme 
diately  after  the  setting  of  the  sun  in  relating  how  the  soldiers 
under  Carroll  had  been  ambushed  and  scattered  by  the  onslaught 
of  the  Apaches,  their  commander,  Lieutenant  Carroll,  killed  at 
the  first  fire.  One  of  the  survivors  became  separated  from  his 
comrades  in  their  headlong  flight  into  Camp  Grant.  What  be 
came  of  him  was  never  fully  known,  but  he  had  been  seen  to 
fall  wounded  in  the  head  or  face,  and  the  soldiers  and  Mexicans 
seemed  to  be  of  but  one  opinion  as  to  the  direction  in  which  he 
had  strayed  ;  so  there  was  no  difficulty  in  getting  a  band  of  expert 
trailers  to  go  out  with  the  troops  from  the  camp,  and  after  bury 
ing  the  dead,  make  search  for  the  missing  man.  His  foot-prints 
were  plainly  discernible  for  quite  a  distance  in  the  hard  sand 
and  gravel,  until  they  led  to  a  spring  or  "water-hole,"  where 
one  could  plainly  read  the  "sign"  that  the  wounded  man  had 
stopped,  knelt  down,  drunk,  washed  his  wound,  torn  off  a  small 
piece  of  his  blouse,  perhaps  as  a  bandage,  and  written  his  name 
on  a  rock  in  his  own  blood. 

So  far,  so  good  ;  the  Mexicans  who  had  been  in  the  searching 
party  did  not  object  to  telling  that  much,  but  anything  beyond 
was  told  by  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders  and  a  "  Quien  sabe  ?  " 

One  day  it  happened  that  Jose  Maria  was  in  a  communicative 
mood,  and  I  induced  him  to  relate  what  he  knew.  His  story 
amounted  to  just  this  :  After  leaving  the  "  water-hole/'  the 
wounded  man  had  wandered  aimlessly  in  different  directions, 
and  soon  began  to  stagger  from  bush  to  bush  ;  his  strength  was 
nearly  gone,  and  with  frequency  he  had  taken  a  seat  on  the  hard 
gravel  under  such  shade  as  the  mesquites  afforded. 

After  a  while  other  tracks  came  in  on  the  trail  alongside  of 
those  of  the  man — they  were  the  tracks  of  an  enormous  mountain 
lion  !  The  beast  had  run  up  and  down  along  the  trail  for  a  short 
distance,  and  then  bounded  on  in  the  direction  taken  by  the 


40  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

wanderer.  The  last  few  bounds  measured  twenty-two  feet,  and 
then  there  were  signs  of  a  struggle,  and  of  SOMETHING  having 
been  dragged  off  through  the  chapparal  and  over  the  rocks,  and 
that  was  all. 

Our  men  were  ready  for  the  scout,  and  so  were  those  of  the  de 
tachment  of  "K"  Troop,  First  Cavalry,  who  were  to  form  part 
of  our  expedition — a  gallant  troop  and  a  fine  regiment. 

The  quarters  were  all  in  bustle  and  confusion,  and  even  at  their 
best  would  have  looked  primitive  and  uncouth.  They  were  made 
of  unhewn  logs  set  upright  into  the  ground  and  chinked  with 
mud,  and  roofed  in  the  same  early  English  style,  with  the  addi 
tion  of  a  ceiling  of  old  pieces  of  canvas  to  keep  the  centipedes 
from  dropping  down. 

On  the  walls  were  a  couple  of  banjos,  and  there  were  intima 
tions  that  the  service  of  the  troop  had  been  of  a  decidedly  active 
nature,  in  the  spoils  of  Apache  villages  clustered  against  the  cot- 
tonwood  saplings.  There  were  lances  with  tips  of  obsidian,  and 
others  armed  with  the  blades  of  old  cavalry  sabres  ;  quivers  of 
coyote  and  mountain  lion  skin  filled  with  arrows,  said  by  the 
Mexican  guides  to  be  poisonous  ;  and  other  relics  of  aboriginal 
ownership  in  raw-hide  playing-cards,  shields,  and  one  or  two  of 
the  century-plant  fiddles. 

The  gloom  of  the  long  sleeping  room  was  relieved  by  the  bright 
colors  of  a  few  Navajo  blankets,  and  there  hung  from  the  rafters 
large  earthenware  jars,  called  "ollas,"  the  manufacture  of  the 
peaceful  Papagoes,  in  which  gallons  of  water  cooled  by  rapid 
evaporation. 

There  were  no  tin  wash-basins,  but  a  good  substitute  was  found 
in  the  pretty  Apache  baskets,  woven  so  tightly  of  grasses  and  roots 
that  water  could  no  more  leak  through  them  than  it  could  through 
the  better  sort  of  the  Navajo  blankets.  A  half  a  dozen,  maybe 
more,  of  the  newspaper  illustrations  and  cartoons  of  the  day  were 
pasted  in  spots  where  they  would  be  most  effective,  and  over  in 
the  coolest  corner  was  the  wicker  cage  of  a  pet  mocking-bird. 
There  were  other  pets  by  this  time  in  the  Apache  children  cap 
tured  in  the  skirmishes  already  had  with  the  natives.  The  two 
oldest  of  the  lot — "Sunday"  and  "Dandy  Jim" — were  never 
given  any  dinner  until  they  had  each  first  shot  an  arrow  into  the 
neck  of  an  olive-bottle  inserted  into  one  of  the  adobe  walls  of  the 


A  CANON  FRESHET.  41 

quartermaster's  corral.  The  ease  with  which  these  youngsters  not 
over  nine  or  ten  years  old  did  this  used  to  surprise  me,  but  it 
seemed  to  make  them  regard  the  Americans  as  a  very  peculiar 
people  for  demanding  such  a  slight  task. 

Out  on  the  trail  again,  down  the  San  Pedro  and  over  the  Gila, 
but  keeping  well  to  the  west  until  we  neared  the  Mineral  Creek 
country  ;  then  up  across  the  lofty  Final  Range,  on  whose  summits 
the  cool  breezes  were  fragrant  with  the  balsamic  odors  of  the 
tall,  straight  pines,  over  into  the  beautiful  little  nook  known  as 
Mason's  Valley,  in  which  there  was  refreshing  grass  for  the  ani 
mals  and  a  trickling  stream  of  pure  water  to  slake  their  thirst. 
Then  back  to  the  eastward  until  we  struck  the  waters  of  the 
Final  Creek,  and  had  followed  it  down  to  the  "  Wheat  Fields/' 
and  still  no  signs  of  Indians.  The  rainy  season  had  set  in,  and 
every  track  was  obliterated  almost  as  soon  as  made. 

One  night  we  bivouacked  at  a  spot  not  far  from  where  the 
mining  town  of  Globe  now  stands,  and  at  a  ledge  of  rocks  which 
run  across  the  valley  of  Final  Creek,  but  part  for  a  few  feet  to 
permit  the  feeble  current  to  flow  through.  The  sky  was  com 
paratively  clear,  a  few  clouds  only  flitting  across  the  zenith. 
Back  of  us,  hanging  like  a  shroud  over  the  tops  of  the  Final, 
were  heavy,  black  masses,  from  whose  pendulous  edges  flashed 
the  lightning,  and  from  whose  cavernous  depths  roared  and 
growled  the  thunder. 

"  That  looks  very  much  like  a  cloud-burst  coming, "  said 
Gushing  ;  *'  better  be  on  the  safe  side,  anyhow."  So  he  gave  or 
ders  to  move  all  the  bedding  and  all  the  supplies  of  the  pack- 
train  higher  up  the  side  of  the  hill.  The  latter  part  of  the  order 
was  obeyed  first,  and  almost  if  not  quite  all  the  ammunition, 
bacon,  coffee,  and  sugar  had  been  carried  out  of  reach  of  possible 
danger,  and  most  of  the  blankets  and  carbines  had  been  shifted— 
everything,  in  fact,  but  the  hard  tack — when  we  noticed  that  the 
volume  of  water  in  the  creek  had  unaccountably  increased,  and 
the  next  moment  came  the  warning  cry  :  "  Look  out  !  Here  she 
comes  ! "  A  solid  wall  of  water — I  do  not  care  to  say  how  many 
feet  high — was  rushing  down  the  cation,  sweeping  all  before  it, 
and  crushing  a  path  for  itself  over  the  line  along  which  our 
blankets  had  been  spread  so  short  a  time  previously. 

The  water  didn't  make  very  much  noise.     There  was  no  sound 


42  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

but  a  SISH  !  That  meant  more  than  my  pen  can  say.  All  that 
we  had  carried  to  the  higher  slopes  of  the  cafion  side  was  saved. 
All  that  we  had  not  been  able  to  move  was  swept  away,  but  there 
was  nothing  of  value  to  any  one  excepting  a  mule  belonging  to 
one  of  the  guides,  which  was  drowned,  and  a  lot  of  harness  or 
rigging  from  the  pack-train,  which,  with  the  hard  tack,  found  a 
watery  grave. 

Gushing,  too,  would  have  been  swept  off  in  the  current  had  he 
not  been  seized  in  the  strong  grasp  of  Sergeant  Warfield  and 
"  Big  Dan  Miller/'  two  of  the  most  powerful  men  in  the  troop. 
The  rain  soaked  through  us  all  night,  and  we  had  to  make  the 
best  of  it  until  dawn,  when  we  discovered  to  our  great  surprise 
and  satisfaction  that  the  stream,  which  had  been  gorged  between 
the  rocks  at  our  camp,  widened  below,  and  this  had  allowed  the 
current  to  expand  and  to  slacken,  dropping  here  and  there  in  the 
valley  most  of  the  plunder  which  was  of  consequence  to  us,  espe 
cially  the  hard  bread. 

All  this  meant  an  exasperating  delay  of  twenty-four  hours  to 
dry  our  blankets  upon  the  rocks,  and  to  spread  out  our  sodden 
food,  and  save  as  much  of  it  as  we  could  from  mildew. 

From  there  we  made  a  detour  over  to  Pinto  Creek,  where  I 
may  inform  those  of  my  readers  who  take  an  interest  in  such 
things,  there  are  one  or  two  exceptionally  well-preserved  cliff- 
dwellings,  which  we  examined  with  much  curiosity. 

Not  far  from  there  we  came  upon  the  corn-fields  of  a  band  of 
Apaches,  and  destroyed  them,  eating  as  many  of  the  roasting  ears 
as  we  could,  and  feeding  the  rest  to  our  stock. 

Such  were  the  military  instructions  of  twenty  and  twenty-five 
years  ago.  As  soldiers  we  had  to  obey,  even  if  we  could  feel  that 
these  orders  must  have  been  issued  under  a  misconception  of  the 
Indian  character.  The  more  the  savage  is  attached  to  the  soil  by 
the  ties  of  a  remunerative  husbandry,  the  more  is  he  weaned 
from  the  evil  impulses  which  idleness  engenders.  This  proposi 
tion  seems'  just  as  clear  as  that  two  and  two  make  four,  but  some 
people  learn  quickly,  and  others  learn  slowly,  and  preachers, 
school-teachers,  and  military  people  most  slowly  of  all. 

Our  presence  was  discovered  by  the  Apache  look-outs  before 
we  were  able  to  effect  a  surprise,  or,  to  be  candid,  we  stumbled  in 
upon  the  nook,  or  series  of  nooks,  in  which  this  planting  was 
going  on,  and  beyond  exchanging  a  few  shots  and  wounding,  as 


ESCAPE  OP   THE  PRISONERS. 


43 


we  learned  afterward,  a  couple  of  the  young  men,  did  not  do 
much  at  that  moment ;  but  we  did  catch  two  squaws,  from  whom 
some  information  was  extracted. 

They  agreed  to  lead  us  to  where  there  was  another  "  ranche- 
ria  "  a  few  miles  off,  in  another  canon  over  toward  Tonto  Creek. 
We  found  the  enemy,  sure  enough,  but  in  such  an  inaccessible 
position,  up  among  lofty  hills  covered  with  a  dense  jungle  of 
scrub  oak,  that  we  could  do  nothing  beyond  firing  shots  in  reply 
to  those  directed  against  us,  and  were  so  unfortunate  as  to  lose 
our  prisoners,  who  darted  like  jack-rabbits  into  the  brush,  and 
were  out  of  sight  in  a  flash.  Why  did  we  not  catch  them  again  ? 
Oh,  well,  that  is  something  that  no  one  could  do  but  the  gentle 
reader.  The  gentle  reader  generally  is  able  to  do  more  than  the 
actors  on  the  ground,  and  he  may  as  well  be  allowed  a  monopoly 
in  the  present  case. 

We  growled  and  grumbled  a  good  deal  at  our  hard  luck,  and 
made  our  way  to  the  Mesquite  Springs,  where  the  ranch  of  Ar 
chie  Mac  Intosh.  has  since  been  erected,  and  there  went  into  camp 
for  the  night.  Early  the  next  morning  we  crossed  the  Salt  River 
and  ascended  the  Tonto  Creek  for  a  short  distance,  passing 
through  a  fertile  valley,  once  well  settled  by  a  tribe  whose  stone 
houses  now  in  ruins  dotted  the  course  of  the  stream,  and  whose 
pottery,  stone  axes,  and  other  vestiges,  in  a  condition  more  or  less 
perfect,  could  be  picked  up  in  any  quantity.  We  turned  back, 
recrossed  the  Salt  or  Salado,  and  made  a  long  march  into  the 
higher  parts  of  the  Sierra  Apache,  striking  a  fresh  trail,  and  fol 
lowing  it  energetically  until  we  had  run  it  into  the  camp  of  a 
scouting  party  of  the  First  Cavalry,  from  Camp  MacDowell,  under 
Colonel  George  B.  Sanford,  who  had  had  a  fight  with  these  same 
Indians  the  previous  day,  and  killed  or  captured  most  of  them. 

Sanford  and  his  command  treated  us  most  kindly,  and  made  us 
feel  at  home  with  them.  They  did  not  have  much  to  offer  be 
yond  bacon  and  beans  ;  but  a  generous,  hospitable  gentleman  can 
offer  these  in  a  way  that  will  make  them  taste  like  canvas-back 
and  terrapin.  When  we  left  Sanford,  we  kept  on  in  the  direc 
tion  of  the  Sombrero  Butte  and  the  mouth  of  Cherry  Creek,  to 
the  east,  and  then  headed  for  the  extreme  sources  of  the  San 
Carlos  River,  a  trifle  to  the  south. 

Here  we  had  the  good  luck  to  come  upon  a  village  of  Apaches, 
who  abandoned  all  they  possessed  and  fled  to  the  rocks  as  soon 


44  ON  THE   BORDER  WITH   CROOK. 

as  our  rapid  advance  was  announced  in  the  shrill  cries  of  their 
vedettes  perched  upon  the  higher  peaks. 

In  this  place  the  "medicine-men"  had  been  engaged  in  some 
of  their  rites,  and  had  drawn  upon  the  ground  half -completed  fig 
ures  of  circles,  crosses,  and  other  lines  which  we  had  no  time  to 
examine.  We  looked  through  the  village,  whose  "jacales"  were 
of  unusually  large  size,  and  while  interested  in  this  work  the 
enemy  began  to  gather  in  the  higher  hills,  ready  to  pick  off  all 
who  might  become  exposed  to  their  aim.  They  had  soon  crawled 
down  within  very  close  proximity,  and  showed  great  daring  in 
coming  up  to  us.  I  may  be  pardoned  for  describing  in  something 
of  detail  what  happened  to  the  little  party  which  stood  with  me 
looking  down,  or  trying  to  look  down,  into  a  low  valley  or  collec 
tion  of  swales  beneath  us.  Absolutely  nothing  could  be  seen  but 
the  red  clay  soil,  tufted  here  and  there  with  the  Spanish  bayonet 
or  the  tremulous  yucca.  So  well  satisfied  were  we  all  that  no 
Apaches  were  in  the  valley  that  I  had  already  given  the  order  to 
dismount  and  descend  the  steep  flanks  of  the  hill  to  the  lower 
ground,  but  had  hardly  done  so  before  there  was  a  puff,  a  noise, 
and  a  tzit ! — all  at  once,  from  the  nearest  clump  of  sacaton  or 
yucca,  not  more  than  a  hundred  yards  in  front.  The  bullet 
whizzed  ominously  between  our  heads  and  struck  my  horse  in  the 
neck,  ploughing  a  deep  but  not  dangerous  wound. 

Our  horses,  being  fresh  "  broncos,"  became  disturbed,  and  it 
was  all  we  could  do  to  keep  them  from  breaking  away.  When 
we  had  quieted  them  a  little,  we  saw  two  of  the  Apaches — stark 
naked,  their  heads  bound  up  with  yucca,  and  their  bodies  red 
with  the  clay  along  which  they  had  crawled  in  order  to  fire  the 
shot — scampering  for  their  lives  down  the  valley. 

We  got  down  the  hill,  leading  our  horses,  and  then  took  after 
the  fugitives,  all  the  time  yelling  to  those  of  our  comrades  whom 
we  could  see  in  advance  to  head  the  Indians  off.  One  of  the  sav 
ages,  who  seemed  to  be  the  younger  of  the  two,  doubled  up  a  side 
ravine,  but  the  other,  either  because  he  was  run  down  or  because 
he  thought  he  could  inflict  some  damage  upon  us  and  then  escape, 
remained  hidden  behind  a  large  mesquite.  Our  men  made  the 
grievous  mistake  of  supposing  that  the  Indian 's  gun  was  not 
loaded.  Only  one  gun  had  been  seen  in  the  possession  of  the  two 
whom  we  had  pursued,  and  this  having  been  discharged,  we  were 
certain  that  the  savage  had  not  had  time  to  reload  it. 


AN  APACHE  SHARPSHOOTER.  45 

It  is  quite  likely  that  each  of  the  pair  had  had  a  rifle,  and  that 
the  young  boy,  previous  to  running  up  the  canon  to  the  left,  had 
given  his  weapon  to  his  elder,  who  had  probably  left  his  own  on 
the  ground  after  once  firing  it. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  we  were  greeted  with  another  shot,  which 
killed  the  blacksmith  of  "K"  Troop,  First  Cavalry,  and  right 
behind  the  shot  came  the  big  Indian  himself,  using  his  rifle  as  a 
shillelah,  beating  Corporal  Costello  over  the  bead  with  it  and 
knocking  him  senseless,  and  then  turning  upon  Sergeant  Har 
rington  and  a  soldier  of  the  First  Cavalry  named  Wolf,  dealing 
each  a  blow  on  the  skull,  which  would  have  ended  them  had  not 
his  strength  begun  to  ebb  away  with  his  life-blood,  now  flowing 
freely  from  the  death-wound  through  the  body  which  we  had 
succeeded  in  inflicting. 

One  horse  laid  up,  three  men  knocked  out,  and  another  man 
killed  was  a  pretty  steep  price  to  pay  for  the  killing  of  this 
one  Indian,  but  we  consoled  ourselves  with  the  thought  that  the 
Apaches  had  met  with  a  great  loss  in  the  death  of  so  valiant  a 
warrior.  We  had  had  other  losses  on  that  day,  and  the  hostiles 
had  left  other  dead  ;  our  pack-train  was  beginning  to  show  signs 
of  wear  and  tear  from  the  fatigue  of  climbing  up  and  down  these 
stony,  brush-covered,  arid  mountain-sides.  One  of  the  mules  had 
broken  its  neck  or  broken  its  back  by  slipping  off  a  steep  trail, 
and  all  needed  some  rest  and  recuperation. 

From  every  peak  now  curled  the  ominous  signal  smoke  of  the 
enemy,  and  no  further  surprises  would  be  possible.  Not  all  of  the 
smokes  were  to  be  taken  as  signals;  many  of  them  might  be  signs 
of  death,  as  the  Apaches  at  that  time  adhered  to  the  old  custom 
of  abandoning  a  village  and  setting  it  on  fire  the  moment  one 
of  their  number  died,  and  as  soon  as  this  smoke  was  seen  the 
adjacent  villages  would  send  up  answers  of  sympathy. 

Gushing  thought  that,  under  all  the  circumstances,  it  would 
be  good  policy  to  move  over  to  some  eligible  position  where  we 
could  hold  our  own  against  any  concentration  the  enemy  might  be 
tempted  to  make  against  us,  and  there  stay  until  the  excitement 
occasioned  by  our  presence  in  the  country  had  abated. 

The  spring  near  the  eastern  base  of  the  Final  Mountains,  where 
the  "  killing "  of  the  early  spring  had  taken  place,  suggested 
itself,  and  thither  we  marched  as  fast  as  our  animals  could  make 
the  trip.  But  we  had  counted  without  our  host;  the  waters 


46  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

were  so  polluted  with  dead  bodies,  there  were  so  many  skulls  in 
the  spring  itself,  that  no  animal,  much  less  man,  would  imbibe  of 
the  fluid.  The  ground  was  strewn  with  bones — ribs  and  arms 
and  vertebrae — dragged  about  by  the  coyotes,  and  the  smell  was 
so  vile  that,  tired  as  all  were,  no  one  felt  any  emotion  but  one 
of  delight  when  Gushing  gave  the  order  to  move  on. 

The  Apaches  had  been  there  to  bury  their  kinsfolk  and  bewail 
their  loss,  and  in  token  of  grief  and  rage  had  set  fire  to  all  the 
grass  for  several  miles,  and  consequently  it  was  to  the  direct  ben 
efit  of  all  our  command,  two-footed  or  four-footed,  to  keep  mov 
ing  until  we  might  find  a  better  site  for  a  bivouac. 

We  did  not  halt  until  we  had  struck  the  San  Carlos,  some 
thirty-five  miles  to  the  east,  and  about  twelve  or  fourteen  miles 
above  its  junction  with  the  Gila.  Here  we  made  camp,  intending 
to  remain  several  days.  A  rope  was  stretched  from  one  to  the 
other  of  two  stout  sycamores,  and  to  this  each  horse  and  mule 
was  attached  by  its  halter.  Pickets  were  thrown  out  upon  the 
neighboring  eminences,  and  a  detail  from  the  old  guard  was 
promptly  working  at  bringing  in  water  and  wood  for  the  camp- 
fires.  The  grooming  began,  and  ended  almost  as  soon  as  the 
welcome  cry  of  "Supper!"  resounded.  The  coffee  was  boiling 
hot ;  the  same  could  be  said  of  the  bacon  ;  the  hard  tack  had 
mildewed  a  little  during  the  wet  weather  to  which  it  had  been 
exposed,  but  there  was  enough  roasted  mescal  from  the  Indian 
villages  to  eke  out  our  supplies. 

The  hoofs  and  back  of  every  animal  had  been  examined  and 
cared  for,  and  then  blankets  were  spread  out  and  all  hands  made 
ready  to  turn  in.  There  were  no  tents,  as  no  shelter  was  needed, 
but  each  veteran  was  wise  enough  to  scratch  a  little  semicircle 
in  the  ground  around  his  head,  to  turn  the  rain  should  any  fall 
during  the  night,  and  to  erect  a  wind-brake  to  screen  him  from 
the  chill  breezes  which  sometimes  blew  about  midnight. 

Although  there  was  not  much  danger  of  a  night-attack  from 
the  Apaches,  who  almost  invariably  made  their  onset  with  the 
first  twinkle  of  the  coming  dawn  in  the  east,  yet  a  careful  watch 
was  always  kept,  to  frustrate  their  favorite  game  of  crawling  on 
hands  and  feet  up  to  the  horses,  and  sending  an  arrow  into  the 
herd  or  the  sentinel,  as  might  happen  to  be  most  convenient. 

Not  far  from  this  camp  I  saw,  for  the  first  time,  a  fight  be 
tween  a  tarantula  and  a  " tarantula  hawk."  Manuel  Duran  had 


A  TARANTULA  FIGHT.  47 

always  insisted  that  the  gray  tarantula  could  whip  the  black  one, 
and  that  there  was  something  that  flew  about  in  the  evening  that 
could  and  would  make  the  quarrelsome  gray  tarantula  seek  safety 
in  abject  flight.  It  was  what  we  used  to  call  in  my  school-boy 
days  "the  devil's  darning-needle "  which  made  its  appearance, 
and  seemed  to  worry  the  great  spider  very  much.  The  tarantula 
stood  up  on  its  hind  legs,  and  did  its  best  to  ward  off  impending 
fate,  but  it  was  no  use.  The  "hawk"  hit  the  tarantula  in  the 
back  and  apparently  paralyzed  him,  and  then  seemed  to  be  pull 
ing  at  one  of  the  hind  legs.  I  have  since  been  informed  that 
there  is  some  kind  of  a  fluid  "injected  into  the  back  of  the  taran 
tula  which  acts  as  a  stupefier,  and  at  the  same  time  the  "  hawk  " 
deposits  its  eggs  there,  which,  hatching,  feed  upon  the  spider. 
For  all  this  I  cannot  vouch,  as  I  did  not  care  to  venture  too 
near  those  venomous  reptiles  and  insects  of  that  region,  at  least 
not  until  after  I  had  acquired  more  confidence  from  greater  fami 
liarity  with  them. 

We  saw  no  more  Indian  "sign"  on  that  trip,  which  had  not 
been,  however,  devoid  of  all  incident. 

And  no  sooner  had  we  arrived  at  Camp  Grant  than  we  were  out 
again,  this  time  guided  by  an  Apache  squaw,  who  had  come  into 
the  post  during  our  absence,  and  given  to  the  commanding  offi 
cer  a  very  consistent  story  of  ill-treatment  at  the  hands  of  her 
people.  She  said  that  her  husband  was  dead,  killed  in  a  fight 
with  the  troops,  and  that  she  and  her  baby  had  not  been  treated 
with  the  kindness  which  they  had  a  right  to  expect.  I  do  not 
remember  in  what  this  ill-treatment  consisted,  but  most  likely 
none  of  the  brothers  of  the  deceased  had  offered  to  marry  the 
widow  and  care  for  her  and  her  little  one,  as  is  the  general  cus 
tom,  in  which  the  Apaches  resemble  the  Hebrews  of  ancient 
times.  If  the  troops  would  follow  her,  she  would  guide  them 
into  a  very  bad  country,  where  there  was  a  "rancheria"  which 
could  be  attacked  and  destroyed  very  readily. 

So  back  we  went,  this  time  on  foot,  carrying  our  rations  on 
our  backs,  crossing  the  Pinaleno  to  the  south  of  the  Aravaypa, 
and  ascending  until  we  reached  the  pine  forest  upon  its  summit  j 
then  down  into  the  valley  at  the  extreme  head  of  the  Aravaypa, 
and  over  into  the  broken  country  on  the  other  side  of  the  Gabilan, 
or  Hawk  Canon. 


48  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Everything  had  happened  exactly  as  the  squaw  had  predicted 
it  would,  and  she  showed  that  she  was  familiar  with  the  slightest 
details  of  the  topography,  and  thus  increased  our  confidence  in 
what  we  had  to  expect  to  such  an  extent  that  she  was  put  in  the 
lead,  and  we  followed  on  closely,  obeying  all  her  directions  and 
instructions.  Our  men  refrained  from  whistling,  from  talking 
— almost,  I  might  say,  from  breathing — because  she  insisted 
upon  such  perfect  silence  while  on  the  march.  There  were 
few  instructions  given,  and  these  were  passed  from  mouth  to 
mouth  in  whispers.  No  one  dared  strike  a  match,  lest  the  flash 
should  alarm  some  of  the  enemy's  pickets.  We  had  no  pack- 
train,  and  that  great  source  of  noise — the  shouting  of  packers 
to  straying  mules — was  done  away  with.  All  our  rations  were 
on  our  own  backs,  and  with  the  exception  of  one  led  mule, 
loaded  with  a  couple  of  thousand  rounds  of  extra  ammunition, 
we  had  absolutely  nothing  to  impede  the  most  rapid  march. 
We  walked  slowly  over  the  high  mountains,  and  down  into  deep 
ravines,  passing  through  a  country  which  seemed  well  adapted 
for  the  home  of  Indians.  There  were  groves  of  acorn-bearing 
oaks,  a  considerable  amount  of  mescal,  Spanish  bayonet,  some 
mesquite,  and  a  plenty  of  grasses  whose  seeds  could  be  gathered 
by  the  squaws  in  their  long,  conical  baskets,  and  then  ground 
between  two  oblong,  half-round  stones  into  a  meal  which  would 
make  a  pretty  good  mush. 

It  was  very  dark  and  quite  chilly  as  dawn  drew  nigh,  and 
every  one  was  shivering  with  cold  and  hunger  and  general  ner 
vous  excitement.  The  squaw  whispered  that  we  were  close  upon 
the  site  of  the  "rancheria,"  which  was  in  a  little  grassy  amphi 
theatre  a  short  distance  in  front.  Slowly  we  drew  nearer  and 
nearer  to  the  doomed  village,  and  traversed  the  smooth,  open 
place  whereon  the  young  bucks  had  been  playing  their  great 
game  of  "mushka,"  in  which  they  roll  a  hoop  and  then  throw 
lance  staves  to  fall  to  the  ground  as  the  hoop  ceases  to  roll.  Very 
near  this  was  a  slippery-faced  rock — either  slate  or  basalt,  the 
darkness  did  not  permit  a  close  examination — down  which  the 
children  had  been  sliding  to  the  grass,  and,  just  within  biscuit- 
throw,  the  (( jacales"  of  saplings  and  branches. 

Two  of  our  party  crawled  up  to  the  village,  which  preserved  an 
ominous  silence.  There  were  no  barking  dogs,  no  signs  of  fire, 
no  wail  of  babes  to  testify  to  the  presence  of  human  or  animal 


IN  AN  APACHE  AMBUSCADE.  49 

life — in  one  word,  the  Apaches  had  taken  the  alarm  and  aban 
doned  their  habitation.  But  they  did  not  leave  us  shivering  long 
in  doubt  as  to  where  they  had  gone,  but  at  once  opened  from  the 
peaks  with  rifles,  and  at  the  first  fire  wounded  two  of  our  men. 
It  was  entirely  too  dark  for  them  to  do  much  harm,  and  utterly 
beyond  our  power  to  do  anything  against  them.  Their  position 
was  an  impregnable  one  on  the  crest  of  the  surrounding  ridges, 
and  protected  by  a  heavy  natural  cheval  defrise  of  the  scrub  oak 
and  other  thorny  vegetation  of  the  region. 

Gushing  ordered  the  command  to  fall  back  on  the  trail  and 
take  up  position  on  the  hill  in  the  pass  overlooking  the  site  of 
the  "rancheria."  This  we  did  without  difficulty  and  without 
loss.  The  Apaches  continued  their  firing,  and  would  have  made 
us  pay  dear  for  our  rashness  in  coming  into  their  home  had  not 
our  withdrawal  been  covered  by  a  heavy  fog,  which  screened  the 
flanks  of  the  mountains  until  quite  a  late  hour  in  the  morning, 
something  very  unusual  in  Arizona,  which  is  remarkably  free 
from  mists  at  all  seasons. 

Indignation  converged  upon  the  wretched  squaw  who  had  in 
duced  us  to  come  into  what  had  all  the  appearance  of  a  set  am 
buscade.  The  men  had  bound  her  securely,  and  a  rope  was  now 
brought  out — a  lariat — and  cries  were  heard  on  all  sides  to  "  hang 
her,  hang  her  ! "  It  is  easy  to  see  now  that  she  may  have  been 
perfectly  innocent  in  her  intentions,  and  that  it  was  not  through 
collusion  with  the  people  in  the  village,  but  rather  on  account  of 
her  running  away  from  them,  that  the  Apaches  had  been  on  the 
look-out  for  an  advance  from  the  nearest  military  post ;  but  on 
that  cold,  frosty  morning,  when  all  were  cross  and  tired  and 
vexed  with  disappointment,  it  looked  rather  ominous  for  the 
woman  for  a  few  minutes. 

She  was  given  the  benefit  of  the  doubt,  and  to  do  the  men 
justice,  they  were  more  desirous  of  scaring  than  of  killing  her 
for  her  supposed  treachery.  She  stuck  to  her  story  ;  she  was 
dissatisfied  with  her  people  on  account  of  bad  treatment,  and 
wanted  to  lead  us  to  a  surprise  of  their  home.  She  did  not  pre 
tend  to  say  how  it  came  about  that  they  were  ready  for  us,  but 
said  that  some  of  their  young  men  out  hunting,  or  squaws  out 
cutting  and  burning  mescal,  might  have  seen  us  coming  up  the 
mountain,  or  "cut"  our  trail  the  night  previous,  and  given  the 
alarm.  She  would  stay  with  us  as  long  as  we  chose  to  remain  in 


50  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

those  hills,  but  her  opinion  was  that  nothing  could  now  be  done 
with  the  people  of  that  "  rancheria,"  because  the  whole  country 
would  be  alarmed  with  signal  smokes,  and  every  mountain  would 
have  a  picket  on  the  look-out  for  us.  Better  return  to  the  camp 
and  wait  until  everything  had  quieted  down,  and  then  slip  out 
again. 

There  was  still  a  good  deal  of  growling  going  on,  and  not  all 
of  the  men  were  satisfied  with  her  talk.  They  shot  angry  glances 
at  her,  and  freely  expressed  their  desire  to  do  her  bodily  harm. 
which  threats  she  could  perfectly  understand  without  needing 
the  slightest  knowledge  of  our  language.  To  keep  her  from 
slipping  off  as  the  two  other  squaws  had  done  a  fortnight  pre 
viously,  she  was  wrapped  from  head  to  feet  with  rope,  so  that  it 
was  all  she  could  do  to  bivatho.  much  less  think  of  escaping. 
Another  rope  fastened  her  to  a  palo  verde  close  to  the  little  tire 
at  which  our  coffee  was  made,  and  alongside  whose  flickering 
embers  the  sentinel  paced  as  night  began  to  draw  its  curtains 
near.  She  lay  like  a  log,  making  not  the  slightest  noise  or  move 
ment,  but  to  all  appearances  perfectly  reconciled  to  the  situa 
tion,  and,  after  a  while,  fell  off  into  a  profound  sleep. 

We  had  what  was  known  as  "a  running  guard,"  which  means 
that  every  man  in  the  camp  takes  his  turn  at  the  duty  of  senti 
nel  during  the  night.  This  made  the  men  on  post  have  about 
half  to  three-quarters  of  an  hour's  duty  each.  Each  of  those 
posted  near  the  prisoner  gave  a  careful  look  at  her  as  he  began  to 
pace  up  and  down  near  her.  and  each  found  that  she  was  sleeping 
calmly  and  soundly,  until  about  eleven  o'clock,  or  maybe  a  few 
minutes  nearer  midnight,  a  recruit,  who  had  just  taken  his  turn 
on  post,  felt  his  elbows  pinioned  fast  behind  him  and  his  carbine 
almost  wrenched  from  his  grasp.  He  was  very  muscular,  and 
made  a  good  fight  to  retain  his  weapon  and  use  it,  but  it  fell  to 
the  ground,  and  the  naked  woman  plunged  down  the  side  of  the 
hill  straight  through  the  chapparal  into  the  darkness  profound. 

Bang  !  bang  !  sounded  his  carbine  just  as  soon  as  he  could 
pick  it  up  from  the  ground  where  it  lay.  and  bang  !  hang  ! 
sounded  others,  as  men  half-asleep  awakened  to  the  belief  that 
there  was  a  night  attack.  This  firing  promptly  ceased  upon 
Cushing's  orders.  There  was  not  the  slightest  possible  use  in 
wasting  ammunition,  and  in  besides  running  the  risk  of  hitting 
some  of  our  own  people.  The  squaw  had  escaped,  and  that 


THE  SQUAW'S  ESCAPE.  51 

enough.  There  lay  her  clothing,  and  the  cocoon-like  bundle  of 
rope  which  had  bound  her.  She  had  wriggled  out  of  her  fasten 
ings,  and  sprung  upon  the  sentinel,  who  was  no  doubt  the  least 
vigilant  of  all  whom  she  had  observed,  and  had  tried  to  snatch 
his  weapon  from  him  and  thus  prevent  an  alarm  being  given 
until  she  had  reached  the  bottom  of  the  hill.  All  the  clothing 
she  had  on  at  the  moment  when  she  made  her  rush  upon  the  sen 
tinel  was  an  old  and  threadbare  cavalry  cape  which  hardly  cov 
ered  her  shoulders. 

Cold  and  damp  and  weary,  we  started  on  our  homeward  trip, 
feeling  as  spiritless  as  a  brood  of  half-drowned  chickens.  Even 
the  Irish  had  become  glum,  and  could  see  nothing  ridiculous  in 
our  mishap — a  very  bad  sign. 

"Blessed  are  they  that  expect  nothing."  We  didn't  expect 
and  we  didn't  receive  any  mercy  from  our  comrades  upon  getting 
back  to  the  mess,  and  the  sharp  tongue  of  raillery  lost  none  of 
its  power  when  the  squaw  came  in  close  upon  our  heels,  saying 
that  she  could  not  leave  her  baby,  that  her  breast  cried  for  it. 
She  had  told  the  truth.  If  we  did  not  believe  her  story,  we 
could  kill  her,  but  let  her  see  her  baby  again.  Her  desire  was 
gratified,  and  no  harm  came  to  her.  The  ordinary  stagnation  of 
the  post  had  been  interrupted  during  our  absence  by  the  advent 
of  an  addition  to  the  little  circle  of  captives,  and  there  was 
much  curiosity  to  get  a  good  look  at  the  little  black-eyed  mite 
which  lay  cuddled  up  in  the  arms  of  its  dusky  mother. 

I  have  purposely  withheld  mention  of  the  only  lady  who 
shared  the  life  of  Camp  Grant  with  us — Mrs.  Dodds,  the  wife  of 
Doctor  Dodds,  our  post  surgeon,  or  one  of  them,  because  we  had 
two  medical  officers.  She  was  of  a  very  sweet,  gentle  disposition, 
and  never  once  murmured  or  complained,  but  exerted  herself  to 
make  the  life  of  her  husband  as  comfortable  as  possible. 

Their  quarters  had  a  very  cosey  look,  and  one  would  find  it  hard 
to  believe  that  those  comfortable  chairs  were  nothing  but  bar 
rels  sawed  out  to  shape  and  cushioned  and  covered  with  chintz. 
That  lounge  was  merely  a  few  packing  boxes  concealed  under 
blankets  and  mattresses.  Everything  else  in  the  apartment  was 
on  the  same  scale  and  made  of  corresponding  materials.  There 
was  a  manifest  determination  to  do  much  with  little,  and  much 
had  been  done. 

Mrs.  Dodds  wore  her  honors  as  the  belle  of  the  garrison  with 


52  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOE. 

becoming  graciousness  and  humility.  She  received  in  the  kind 
est  spirit  the  efforts  made  by  all  of  the  rougher  sex  to  render  her 
stay  among  them  pleasant  and,  if  possible,  interesting.  Not  a 
day  passed  that  did  not  find  her  the  recipient  of  some  token  of 
regard.  It  might  not  always  be  the  most  appropriate  sort  of  a 
thing,  but  that  really  made  very  little  difference.  She  accepted 
everything  and  tried  to  look  as  if  each  gift  had  been  the  one  for 
which  she  had  been  longing  during  her  whole  life.  She  had  a  rat 
tlesnake  belt,  made  from  one  of  the  biggest  and  most  vicious  rep 
tiles  ever  seen  in  the  vicinity.  She  had  Apache  baskets,  war* clubs, 
playing-cards,  flutes,  fiddles,  and  enough  truck  of  the  same  kind 
to  load  an  army- wagon.  The  largest  Gila  monsters  would  have 
been  laid  at  her  feet  had  she  not  distinctly  and  emphatically 
drawn  the  line  at  Gila  monsters.  Tarantulas  and  centipedes,  if 
properly  bottled,  were  not  objectionable,  but  the  Gila  monster 
was  more  than  she  could  stand,  and  she  so  informed  intending 
donors.  She  has  been  dead  a  number  of  years,  but  it  is  hardly 
likely  that  she  ever  forgot  until  she  drew  her  last  breath  the 
days  and  weeks  and  months  of  her  existence  at  Camp  Grant. 

Our  own  stay  at  the  delightful  summer  resort  had  come  to  an 
end.  Orders  received  from  department  headquarters  transferred 
our  troop  to  Tucson,  as  being  a  more  central  location  and  nearer 
supplies.  Lieutenant  Gushing  was  ordered  to  take  the  field  and 
keep  it  until  further  orders,  which  meant  that  he  was  to  be  free 
to  roam  as  he  pleased  over  any  and  all  sections  of  the  territory 
infested  by  the  Apaches,  and  to  do  the  best  he  could  against  them. 

To  a  soldier  of  Cushing's  temperament  this  meant  a  great  deal, 
and  it  is  needless  to  say  that  no  better  selection  for  such  a  duty 
could  have  been  made. 

We  were  packed  up  and  out  of  the  post  in  such  quick  time  that 
I  do  not  remember  whether  it  was  twelve  hours  or  twenty-four. 
To  be  sure,  we  did  not  have  an  immense  amount  of  plunder  to 
pack.  None  the  less  did  we  work  briskly  to  carry  out  orders  and 
get  away  in  the  shortest  time  possible. 

We  had  to  leave  one  of  our  men  in  the  hospital ;  he  had  acci 
dentally  shot  himself  in  the  leg,  and  was  now  convalescing  from 
the  amputation.  But  the  rest  were  in  the  saddle  and  out  on  the 
road  through  the  Santa  Catalina  Canon  before  you  could  say 
Jack  Robinson. 

And  not  altogether  without  regret.     There  was  a  bright  side 


LEAVING  THE  POST.  53 

to  the  old  rookery,  which  shone  all  the  more  lustrously  now  that 
we  were  saying  farewell. 

We  had  never  felt  lonesome  by  any  means.  There  was  always 
something  going  on,  always  something  to  do,  always  something 
to  see. 

The  sunrises  were  gorgeous  to  look  upon  at  the  hour  for  morn 
ing  stables,  when  a  golden  and  rosy  flush  bathed  the  purple  peaks 
of  the  Pinalefio,  and  at  eventide  there  were  great  banks  of  crim 
son  and  purple  and  golden  clouds  in  the  western  horizon  which 
no  painter  would  have  dared  depict  upon  canvas. 

There  were  opportunities  for  learning  something  about  miner 
alogy  in  the  "  wash  "  of  the  canons,  botany  on  the  hill-sides,  and 
insect  life  and  reptile  life  everywhere.  Spanish  could  be  picked 
up  from  Mexican  guides  and  packers,  and  much  that  was  quaint 
and  interesting  in  savage  life  learned  from  an  observation  of  the 
manners  of  the  captives — representatives  of  that  race  which  the 
Americans  have  so  frequently  fought,  so  generally  mismanaged, 
and  so  completely  failed  to  understand. 

There  was  much  rough  work  under  the  hardest  of  conditions, 
and  the  best  school  for  learning  how  to  care  for  men  and  ani 
mals  in  presence  of  a  sleepless  enemy,  which  no  amount  of  "book 
Tarnin' "  could  supply. 

The  distance  from  Old  'Camp  Grant  to  Tucson,  Arizona,  over 
the  wagon-road,  was  fifty-five  measured  miles.  The  first  half  of 
the  journey,  the  first  day's  march — as  far  as  the  Canon  del  Oro 
— has  already  been  described.  From  the  gloomy  walls  of  the 
shady  canon,  in  which  tradition  says  gold  was  found  in  abun 
dance  in  the  earliest  days  of  occupation  by  the  Caucasians,  the 
wagons  rolled  rapidly  over  the  Eight-mile  Mesa,  over  some 
slightly  hilly  and  sandy  country,  until  after  passing  the  Riito, 
when  Tucson  came  in  sight  and  the  road  became  firmer.  All 
the  way,  on  both  sides  of  the  road,  and  as  far  as  eye  could  reach, 
we  had  in  sight  the  stately  mescal,  loaded  with  lovely  velvety 
flowers  ; .  the  white-plumed  Spanish  bayonet,  the  sickly  green 
palo  verde,  without  a  leaf ;  the  cholla,  the  nopal,  the  mesquite, 
whose  "  beans  "  were  rapidly  ripening  in  the  sultry  sun,  and  the 
majestic  "pitahaya,"  or  candelabrum  cactus,  whose  ruby  fruit 
had  long  since  been  raided  upon  and  carried  off  by  flocks  of 
bright-winged  humming-birds,  than  which  no  fairer  or  more 
alert  can  be  seen  this  side  of  Brazil.  The  "pitahaya"  attains  a 


54  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

great  height  in  the  vicinity  of  Grant,  Tucson,  and  MacDowell, 
and  one  which  we  measured  by  its  shadow  was  not  far  from  fifty- 
five  to  sixty  feet  above  the  ground. 

On  this  march  the  curious  rider  could  see  much  to  be  remem 
bered  all  the  days  of  his  life.  Piles  of  loose  stones  heaped  up  by 
loving  hands  proclaimed  where  the  Apaches  had  murdered  their 
white  enemies.  The  projection  of  a  rude  cross  of  mescal  or 
Spanish  bayonet  stalks  was  evidence  that  the  victim  was  a  Mexi 
can,  and  a  son  of  Holy  Mother  Church.  Its  absence  was  no 
index  of  religious  belief,  but  simply  of  the  nationality  being 
American. 

Of  the  weird,  blood-chilling  tales  that  were  narrated  as  each 
of  these  was  passed  I  shall  insert  only  one.  It  was  the  story, 
briefly  told,  of  two  young  men  whose  train  had  been  attacked, 
whose  comrades  had  been  put  to  flight,  and  who  stood  their 
ground  resolutely  until  the  arrows  and  bullets  of  the  foe  had 
ended  the  struggle.  When  found,  one  of  the  bodies  was  pierced 
with  sixteen  wounds,  the  other  with  fourteen. 

On  the  left  flank,  or  eastern  side,  the  view  was  hemmed  in 
for  the  whole  distance  by  the  lofty,  pine-clad  Sierra  Santa  Cata- 
lina  ;  but  to  tbe  north  one  could  catch  glimpses  of  the  summit 
of  the  black  Final ;  to  the  west  there  was  a  yiew  over  the  low- 
lying  Tortolita  clear  to  the  dim,  azure  outlines  which,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Gila  Bend,  preserved  in  commemorative 
mesa-top  the  grim  features  of  Montezuma,  as  Mexican  myth 
fondly  averred. 

A  little  this  side  was  the  site  of  the  "  Casa  Grande,"  the  old 
pile  of  adobe,  which  has  been  quite  as  curious  a  ruin  in  the  con 
templation  of  the  irrepressible  Yankee  of  modern  days  as  it  was 
to  Coronado  and  his  followers  when  they  approached  it  under 
the  name  of  "  Chichilticale "  more  than  three  centuries  and  a 
half  ago. 

Still  nearer  was  the  "  Picacho,"  marking  the  line  of  the  Great 
Southern  Mail  road  ;  at  its  base  the  ranch  of  Charlie  Shi  bell, 
where  the  stages  changed  teams  and  travellers  stopped  to  take 
supper,  the  scene  of  as  many  encounters  with  the  Apaches  as  any 
other  spot  in  the  whole  Southwest.  Follow  along  a  little  more  to 
the  left,  and  there  comes  the  Santa  Teresa  Range,  just  back  of 
Tucson,  and  credited  by  rumors  as  reliable  as  any  ever  brought 
by  contraband  during  the  war  with  being  the  repository  of  fabu- 


ON  THE  MARCH.  55 

lous  wealth  in  the  precious  metals  ;  but  no  one  has  yet  had  the 
Aladdin's  lamp  to  rub  and  summon  the  obedient  genii  who 
would  disclose  the  secret  of  its  location. 

Far  off  to  the  south  rises  the  glistening  cone  of  the  Babo- 
quivari,  the  sacred  mountain  in  the  centre  of  the  country  of  the 
gentle  Papagoes,  and  on  the  east,  as  we  get  down  nearer  to  the 
Riito,  the  more  massive  outlines  of  the  Santa  Rita  peak  overshad 
owing  the  town  of  Tucson,  and  the  white,  glaring  roof  of  the 
beautiful  mission  ruin  of  San  Xavier  del  Bac. 

Within  this  space  marched  the  columns  of  the  Coronado  expe 
dition,  armed  to  the  teeth  in  all  the  panoply  of  grim  war,  and 
bent  on  destruction  and  conquest ;  and  here,  too,  plodded  meek 
friar  and  learned  priest,  the  sons  of  Francis  or  of  Loyola,  armed 
with  the  irresistible  weapons  of  the  Cross,  the  Rosary,  and  the 
Sacred  Text,  and  likewise  bent  upon  destruction  and  conquest 
— the  destruction  of  idols  and  the  conquest  of  souls. 

These  were  no  ordinary  mortals,  whom  the  imagination  may 
depict  as  droning  over  breviary  or  mumbling  over  beads.  They 
were  men  who  had,  in  several  cases  at  least,  been  eminent  in  civil 
pursuits  before  the  whispers  of  conscience  bade  them  listen  to  the 
Divine  command,  "Give  up  all  and  follow  Me."  Eusebio  Kino 
was  professor  of  mathematics  in  the  University  of  Ingoldstadt, 
and  had  already  made  a  reputation  among  the  scholars  of  Europe, 
when  he  relinquished  his  titles  and  position  to  become  a  member 
of  the  order  of  Jesuits  and  seek  a  place  in  their  missionary  ranks 
on  the  wildest  of  frontiers,  where  he,  with  his  companions, 
preached  the  word  of  God  to  tribes  whose  names  even  were  un 
known  in  the  Court  of  Madrid. 

Of  these  men  and  their  labors,  if  space  allow,  we  may  have 
something  to  learn  a  chapter  or  two  farther  on.  Just  now  I  find 
that  all  my  powers  of  persuasion  must  be  exerted  to  convince 
the  readers  who  are  still  with  me  that  the  sand  "wash"  in 
which  we  are  floundering  is  in  truth  a  river,  or  rather  a  little 
riyer — the  "Riito" — the  largest  confluent  of  the  Santa  Cruz. 
Could  you  only  arrange  to  be  with  me,  you  unbelieving  Thomases, 
when  the  deluging  rains  of  the  summer  solstice  rush  madly 
down  the  rugged  face  of  the  Santa  Catalina  and  swell  this  dry 
sand-bed  to  the  dimensions  of  a  young  Missouri,  all  tales  would 
be  more  easy  for  you  to  swallow. 

But  here  we  are.     That  fringe  of  emerald  green  in  the  "  bot- 


56  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

torn  "  is  the  barley  land  surrounding  Tucson  •  those  gently  wav 
ing  cottonwoods  outline  the  shrivelled  course  of  the  Santa  Cruz  ; 
those  trees  with  the  dark,  waxy-green  foliage  are  the  pome 
granates  behind  Juan  Fernandez's  corral.  There  is  the  massive 
wall  of  the  church  of -San  Antonio  now;  we  see  streets  and 
houses,  singly  or  in  clusters,  buried  in  shade  or  unsheltered  from 
the  vertical  glare  of  the  most  merciless  of  suns.  Here  are  pigs 
staked  out  to  wallow  in  congenial  mire — that  is  one  of  the 
charming  customs  of  the  Spanish  Southwest ;  and  these — ah,  yes, 
these  are  dogs,  unchained  and  running  amuck  after  the  heels  of 
the  horses,  another  most  charming  custom  of  the  country. 

Here  are  "  burros"  browsing  upon  tin  cans — still  another  in 
stitution  of  the  country — and  here  are  the  hens  and  chickens,  and 
the  houses  of  mud,  of  one  story,  flat,  cheerless,  and  monotonous 
were  it  not  for  the  crimson  "rastras"  of  chile  which,  like  medi 
aeval  banners,  are  flung  to  the  outer  wall.  And  women,  young 
and  old,  wrapped  up  in  "rebosos  "  and  "tapalos,"  which  conceal 
all  the  countenance  but  the  left  eye  ;  and  men  enfolded  in  cheap 
poll-parrotty  blankets  of  cotton,  busy  in  leaning  against  the 
door-posts  and  holding  up  the  weight  of  "sombreros/7  as  large  in 
diameter  as  cart-wheels  and  surrounded  by  snakes  of  silver  bul 
lion  weighing  almost  as  much  as  the  wearers. 

The  horses  are  moving  rapidly  down  the  narrow  street  with 
out  prick  of  spur.  The  wagons  are  creaking  merrily,  pulled  by 
energetic  mules,  whose  efforts  need  not  the  urging  of  rifle-crack 
ing  whip  in  the  hands  of  skilful  drivers.  It  is  only  because  the 
drivers  are  glad  to  get  to  Tucson  that  they  explode  the  long, 
deadly  black  snakes,  with  which  they  can  cut  a  welt  out  of  the 
flank  or  brush  a  fly  from  the  belly  of  any  animal  in  their  team. 
All  the  men  are  whistling  or  have  broken  out  in  glad  carol. 
Each  heart  is  gay,  for  we  have  at  last  reached  Tucson,  the 
commercial  entrepot  of  Arizona  and  the  remoter  Southwest — 
Tucson,  the  Mecca  of  the  dragoon,  the  Naples  of  the  desert, 
which  one  was  to  see  and  die  ;  Tucson,  whose  alkali  pits  yielded 
water  sweeter  than  Well  of  Zemzen,  whose  maidens  were  more 
charming,  whose  society  was  more  hospitable,  merchants  more 
progressive,  magazines  better  stocked,  climate  more  dreamy, 
than  any  town  from  Santa  Fe  to  Los  Angeles  ;  from  Hermosillo, 
in  Sonora,  to  the  gloomy  chasm  of  the  Grand  Canon — with  one 
exception  only  :  its  great  rival,  the  thoroughly  American  town 


TUCSON  AT  LAST.  57 

of  Prescott,  in  the  bosom  of  the  pine  forests,  amid  the  granite 
crags  of  the  foot-hills  of  the  Mogollon. 

Camp  Lowell,  as  the  military  post  was  styled,  was  located  on 
the  eastern  edge  of  the  town  itself.  In  more  recent  years  it  has 
been  moved  seven  or  eight  miles  out  to  where  the  Riito  is  a  flow 
ing  stream.  We  took  up  position  close  to  the  quartermaster's 
corral,  erected  such  tents  as  could  be  obtained,  and  did  much 
solid  work  in  the  construction  of  "ramadas"  and  other  conven 
iences  of  branches.  As  a  matter  of  comfort,  all  the  unmarried 
officers  boarded  in  the  town,  of  which  I  shall  endeavor  to  give  a 
succinct  but  perfectly  fair  description  as  it  impressed  itself  upon 
me  during  the  months  of  our  sojourn  in  the  intervals  between 
scouts  against  the  enemy,,  who  kept  our  hands  full. 

My  eyes  and  ears  were  open  to  the  strange  scenes  and  sounds 
which  met  them  on  every  side.  Tucson  was  as  foreign  a  town  as 
if  it  were  in  Hayti  instead  of  within  our  own  boundaries.  The 
language,  dress,  funeral  processions,  religious  ceremonies,  feasts, 
dances,  games,  joys,  perils,  griefs,  and  tribulations  of  its  popu 
lation  were  something  not  to  be  looked  for  in  the  region  east  ©f 
the  Missouri  Eiver.  I  noted  them  all  as  well  as  I  knew  how, 
kept  my  own  counsel,  and  give  now  the  resume  of  my  notes  of 
the  time. 

The  "Shoo  Fly"  restaurant,  which  offered  the  comforts  of  a 
home  to  the  weary  wayfarer  in  Tucson,  Arizona,  circa  1869,  was 
named  on  the  principle  of  "  lucus  a  non  lucendo" — the  flies 
wouldn't  shoo  worth  a  cent.  Like  the  poor,  they  remained  always 
with  us.  But  though  they  might  bedim  the  legend,  "All  meals 
payable  in  advance/'  they  could  not  destroy  the  spirit  of  the 
legend,  which  was  the  principle  upon  which  our  most  charming 
of  landladies,  Mrs.  "Wallen,  did  business. 

Mrs.  Wallen  deserves  more  than  the  hasty  reference  she  is 
receiving  in  these  pages.  She  was  a  most  attentive  and  well- 
meaning  soul,  understood  the  mysteries,  or  some  of  the  mysteries, 
of  the  culinary  art,  was  anxious  to  please,  had  never  seen  better 
days,  and  did  not  so  much  as  pretend  to  have  seen  any,  not  even 
through  a  telescope. 

She  was  not  a  widow,  as  the  proprieties  demanded  under  the 
circumstances — all  landladies  that  I've  ever  read  or  heard  of  have 
been  widows — but  the  circumstance  that  there  was  a  male  attached 
to  the  name  of  Wallen  did  not  cut  much  of  a  figure  in  the  case, 


58          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

as  it  was  a  well-understood  fact  that  Mrs.  Wallen  was  a  woman 
of  nerve  and  bound  to  have  her  own  way  in  all  things.  Conse 
quently,  the  bifurcated  shadow  which  flitted  about  in  the  corral 
feeding  the  chickens,  or  made  tits  appearance  from  time  to  time 
in  the  kitchen  among  the  tomato  peelings,  did  not  make  a  very 
lasting  impression  upon  either  the  regulars  or  the  "mealers," 
the  two  classes  of  patrons  upon  whose  dollars  our  good  hostess 
depended  for  the  support  of  her  establishment. 

One  line  only  will  be  needed  to  lay  before  the  reader  the  inte 
rior  view  of  the  "Shoo  Fly."  It  was  a  long,  narrow,  low-ceiled 
room  of  adobe,  whose  walls  were  washed  in  a  neutral  yellowish 
tint,  whose  floor  was  of  rammed  earth  and  ceiling  of  white  mus 
lin.  Place  here  and  there,  in  convenient  positions,  eight  or  ten 
tables  of  different  sizes  ;  cover  them  with  cheap  cloths,  cheap 
china  and  glass — I  use  the  term  "cheap"  in  regard  to  quality 
only,  and  not  in  regard  to  the  price,  which  had  been  dear  enough, 
as  everything  was  in  those  days  of  freighting  with  mule  and 
"bull"  teams  from  Leaven  worth  and  Kit  Carson.  Place  in  the 
centre  of  each  table  a  lead  castor  with  the  obsolete  yellow  glass 
bottles  ;  put  one  large,  cheap  mirror  on  the  wall  facing  the  main 
entrance,  and  not  far  from  it  a  wooden  clock,  which  probably 
served  some  mysterious  purpose  other  than  time-keeping,  because 
it  was  never  wound  up.  Have  pine  benches,  and  home-made 
chairs,  with  raw-hide  bottoms  fastened  with  strings  of  the  same 
material  to  the  framework.  Make  the  place  look  decidedly  neat 
and  clean,  notwithstanding  the  flies  and  the  hot  alkali  dust  which 
penetrated  upon  the  slightest  excuse.  Bring  in  two  bright,  pleas 
ant-mannered  Mexican  boys,  whose  dark  complexions  were  well 
set  off  by  neat  white  cotton  jackets  and  loose  white  cotton  trou 
sers,  with  sometimes  a  colored  sash  about  the  waist.  Give  each 
of  these  young  men  a  fly-flapper  as  a  badge  of  office,  and  the 
"Shoo  Fly"  is  open  for  the  reception  of  guests. 

Napkins  designated  the  seats  of  the  regular  boarders.  "  Meal- 
ers"  were  not  entitled  to  such  distinction  and  never  seemed  to 
expect  it.  There  was  no  bill  of  fare.  None  was  needed. 
Boarders  always  knew  what  they  were  going  to  get — same  old 
thing.  There  never  was  any  change  during  all  the  time  of  my 
acquaintance  with  the  establishment,  which,  after  all  is  said  and 
done,  certainly  contrived  to  secure  for  its  patrons  all  that  the 
limited  market  facilities  of  the  day  afforded.  Beef  was  not 


THE   "SHOO-FLY"  BILL   OF  FARE.  59 

always  easy  to  procure,  but  there  was  no  lack  of  bacon,  chicken, 
mutton,  and  kid  meat.  Potatoes  ranked  as  luxuries  of  the 
first  class,  and  never  sold  for  less  than  ten  cents  a  pound,  and 
often  could  not  be  had  for  love  or  money.  The  soil  of  Ari 
zona  south  of  the  Gila  did  not  seem  to  suit  their  growth,  but 
now  that  the  Apaches  have  for  nearly  twenty  years  been  docile 
in  northern  Arizona,  and  left  its  people  free  from  terror  and 
anxiety,  they  have  succeeded  in  raising  the  finest  "Murphies"  in 
the  world  in  the  damp  lava  soil  of  the  swales  upon  the  summit 
of  the  great  Mogollon  Plateau. 

There  was  plenty  of  " jerked"  beef,  savory  and  palatable 
enough  in  stews  and  hashes  ;  eggs,  and  the  sweet,  toothsome  black 
"  frijoles  "  of  Mexico ;  tomatoes  equal  to  those  of'  any  part  of 
our  country,  and  lettuce  always  crisp,  dainty,  and  delicious. 
For  fresh  fruit,  our  main  reliance  was  upon  the  "burro"  trains 
coming  up  from  the  charming  oasis  of  Hermosillo,  the  capital 
of  Sonora— a  veritable  garden  of  the  Hesperides,  in  which 
Nature  was  most  lavish  with  her  gifts  of  honey-juiced  oranges, 
sweet  limes,  lemons,  edible  quinces,  and  luscious  apricots  ;  but 
the  apple,  the  plum,  and  the  cherry  were  unknown  to  us,  and 
the  strawberry  only  occasionally  seen. 

Very  frequently  the  presence  of  Apaches  along  the  road  would 
cause  a  panic  in  trains  coming  up  from  the  south,  and  then 
there  would  be  a  fruit  famine,  during  which  our  sole  reliance 
would  be  upon  the  mainstay  of  boarding-house  prosperity — 
stewed  peaches  and  prunes.  There  were  two  other  articles  of 
food  which  could  be  relied  upon  with  reasonable  certainty — the 
red  beet,  which  in  the  "alkali"  lands  attains  a  great  size,  and 
the  black  fig  of  Mexico,  which,  packed  in  ceroons  of  cow's  hide, 
often  was  carried  about  for  sale. 

Chile  Colorado  entered  into  the  composition  of  every  dish,  and 
great,  velvety-skinned,  delicately  flavored  onions  as  large  as  din 
ner  plates  ended  the  list — that  is  to  say,  the  regular  list.  On 
some  special  occasion  there  would  be  honey  brought  in  from  the 
Tia  Juana  Ranch  in  Lower  California,  three  or  four  hundred 
miles  westward,  and  dried  shrimps  from  the  harbor  of  Guaymas. 
In  the  harbor  of  Guaymas  there  are  oysters,  too,  and  they  are  not 
bad,  although  small  and  a  trifle  coppery  to  the  taste  of  those  who 
try  them  for  the  first  time.  Why  we  never  had  any  of  them  was, 
I  suppose,  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of  getting  them  through 


60  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

in  good  condition  without  ice,  so  we  had  to  be  content  with  the 
canned  article,  which  was  never  any  too  good.  From  the  Rio 
Grande  in  the  neighborhood  of  El  Paso  there  came  the  "pasas," 
or  half-dried  grape,  in  whose  praise  too  much  could  not  be  said. 

The  tables  were  of  pine,  of  the  simplest  possible  construction. 
All  were  bad  enough,  but  some  were  a  trifle  more  rickety  than 
others.  The  one  which  wobbled  the  least  was  placed  close  to  the 
north  side  of  the  banqueting-hall,  where  the  windows  gave  the 
best  "view." 

Around  this  Belshazzarian  board  assembled  people  of  such  con 
sideration  as  Governor  Safford,  Lieutenant-Governor  Bashford, 
Chief-Justice  John  Titus,  Attorney-General  MacCaflrey,  the  gen 
ial  Joe  Wasson,  Tom  Ewing,  and  several  others.  I  was  on  a 
number  of  occasions  honored  with  a  seat  among  them,  and  en 
joyed  at  one  and  the  same  moment  their  conversation  and  the 
"  view  "  of  which  I  have  spoken. 

There  was  a  foreground  of  old  tin  tomato  cans,  and  a  middle 
distance  of  chicken  feathers  and  chile  peppers,  with  a  couple  of 
"  burros "  in  the  dim  perspective,  and  the  requisite  flitting  of 
lights  and  shadows  in  the  foliage  of  one  stunted  mesquite-bush, 
which  sheltered  from  the  vertical  rays  of  the  sun  the  crouching 
form  of  old  Juanita,  who  was  energetically  pounding  between 
smooth  stones  the  week's  washing  of  the  household,  and  supply 
ing  in  the  gaudy  stripes  of  her  bright  "  serape  "  the  amount  of 
color  which  old-school  critics  used  to  maintain  was  indispensable 
to  every  landscape. 

Juanita  was  old  and  discreet,  but  her  thoughts  were  not  alto 
gether  on  the  world  to  come.  Her  face  was  ordinarily  plastered 
with  flour-paste,  the  cosmetic  of  the  Southwest.  Why  this  at 
tention  to  her  toilet,  the  wisest  failed  to  tell:  Often  did  I  assure 
her  that  nothing  could  improve  her  complexion — a  statement  not 
to  be  controverted — and  never  did  she  fail  to  rebuke  me  with  her 
most  bewitching  smile,  and  the  words,  "  Ah  !  Don  Juan,  you're 
such  a  flatterer/' 

The  gentlemen  whose  names  I  have  just  given  are  nearly  all 
dead  or  so  well  advanced  in  years  and  dignity  that  what  I  have 
to  say  now  will  not  sound  like  flattery.  They  had  each  and  all 
travelled  over  a  great  deal  of  the  earth's  surface,  and  several  of 
them  were  scholars  of  ripe  learning.  I  was  much  younger  then 
than  I  am  now,  and  of  course  the  attainments  of  men  so  much 


THE  "SHOO  FLY'S"   PATRONS.  61 

older  than  myself  made  a  deep  impression  upon  me,  but  even  to 
this  day  1  would  place  the  names  of  Titus  and  Bashford.  in  the 
list  of  scholars  of  erudition  whom  I  have  known,  and  very  high 
up  in  the  list,  too. 

The  remainder  of  the  patrons  seemed  to  be  about  evenly  di 
vided  between  the  cynical  grumblers  who,  having  paid  their  score 
with  regularity,  arrogated  to  themselves  the  right  to  asperse  the 
viands  ;  and  the  eulogists  who,  owing  to  temporary  financial  em 
barrassments,  were  unable  to  produce  receipts,  and  sought  to 
appease  their  not  by  any  means  too  hard-hearted  landlady  by  the 
most  fulsome  adulation  of  the  table  and  its  belongings. 

Like  the  brokers  of  Wall  Street  who  are  bulls  to-day  and  bears 
to-morrow,  it  not  infrequently  happened  among  the  "  Shoo 
Ely's "  patrons  that  the  most  obdurate  growler  of  last  week 
changed  front  and  assumed  position  as  the  Advocatus  Diaboli  of 
this. 

But,  take  them  for  all  in  all,  they  were  a  good-hearted,  whole- 
souled  lot  of  men,  who  had  roughed  it  and  smoothed  it  in  all 
parts  of  the  world,  who  had  basked  in  the  smiles  of  Fortune 
and  had  not  winced  at  her  frown  ;  a  trifle  too  quick  on  the  trig 
ger,  perhaps,  some  of  them,  to  be  perfectly  well  qualified  to  act  as 
Sunday-school  superintendents,  yet  generous  to  the  comrade  in 
distress  and  polite  to  all  who  came  near  them.  The  Western  man 
— the  Pacific  Sloper  especially — is  much  more  urbane  and  courte 
ous  under  such  circumstances  than  his  neighbor  who  has  grown 
up  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware  or  Hudson.  There  was  bitter 
rivalry  between  Mrs.  Wallen  and  Mr.  Neugass,  the  proprietor  of 
the  "  Palace  " — a  rivalry  which  diffused  itself  among  their  respec 
tive  adherents. 

I  make  the  statement  simply  to  preserve  the  record  of  the 
times,  that  the  patrons  of  the  "  Shoo  Fly  "  never  let  go  an  oppor 
tunity  to  insinuate  that  the  people  to  be  met  at  the  "Palace" 
were,  to  a  large  extent,  composed  of  the  "  nouveaux  riches." 
There  was  not  the  slightest  foundation  for  this,  as  I  can  testify, 
because  I  afterward  sat  at  Neugass's  tables,  when  Mrs.  Wallen 
had  retired  from  business  and  gone  into  California,  and  can  re 
call  no  difference  at  all  in  the  character  of  the  guests. 

Tucson  enjoyed  the  singular  felicity  of  not  possessing  any 
thing  in  the  shape  of  a  hotel.  Travellers  coming  to  town,  and 
not  provided  with  letters  which  would  secure  them  the  hospital- 


62  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

ity  of  private  houses,  craved  the  privilege  of  "  making  down  " 
their  blankets  in  the  most  convenient  corral,  and  slept  till  early 
morn,  undisturbed  save  by  the  barking  of  dogs,  which  never 
ceased  all  through  the  night,  or  the  crowing  of  loud-yoiced 
chanticleers,  which  began  ere  yet  the  dawn  had  signalled  with 
its  first  rosy  flush  from  the  peak  of  the  Santa  Rita.  It  was  the 
customary  thing  for  wagon  trains  to  halt  and  go  into  camp  in 
the  middle  of  the  plaza  in  front  of  the  cathedral  church  of  San 
Antonio,  and  after  the  oxen  or  mules  had  been  tied  to  the  wheels, 
the  drivers  would  calmly  proceed  to  stretch  out  tired  limbs  in  the 
beautiful  moonlight. 

I  never  could  see  the  advantage  of  such  a  state  of  affairs,  and 
felt  that  it  belittled  the  importance  of  the  town,  which  really  did 
a  very  large  business  with  the  surrounding  country  for  hundreds 
of  miles.  There  are  always  two  and  even  three  different  ways  of 
looking  at  the  same  proposition,  and  to  Bob  Crandall  and  Vet 
Mowry  this  manner  of  camping  "a  la  belle  etoile"  was  the  one 
thing  "to  which  they  pointed  with  pride."  It  was  proof  of  the 
glorious  climate  enjoyed  by  Tucson.  Where  else  in  the  whole 
world,  sir,  could  a  man  camp  out  night  after  night  all  the  year 
round  ?  Was  it  in  Senegambia  ?  No,  sir.  In  Nova  Zembla  ? 
No,  sir.  In  Hong  Kong  ?  No,  sir.  In  Ireland  ? — but  by  this 
time  one  could  cut  off  the  button,  if  necessary,  and  break  away. 

So  there  were  only  three  places  in  which  people  could  get 
acquainted  with  one  another — in  the  "Shoo  Fly"  or  "Palace" 
restaurants  ;  in  the  gambling  resorts,  which  never  closed,  night  or 
day,  Sunday  or  Monday  ;  and  at  the  post-office,  in  the  long  line 
of  Mexicans  and  Americans  slowly  approaching  the  little  square 
window  to  ask  for  letters. 

For  the  convenience  of  my  readers  and  myself,  I  will  take  the 
liberty  of  presenting  some  of  my  dead  and  gone  friends  in  the 
"  Shoo  Fly,"  where  we  can  have  seats  upon  which  to  rest,  and 
tables  upon  which  to  place  our  elbows,  if  we  so  desire. 

But  first  a  word  or  two  more  about  Tucson  itself. 

It  was  in  those  days  the  capital  of  the  Territory  of  Arizona, 
and  the  place  of  residence  of  most  of  the  Federal  officials.  Its 
geographical  situation  was  on  the  right  bank  of  the  pretty  little 
stream  .called  the  Santa  Cruz,  a  mile  or  more  above  where  it  ran 
into  the  sands.  In  round  figures,  it  was  on  the  32d  degree  of 
north  latitude,  and  not  far  from  the  112th  degree  west  from 


TUCSON  AND  ITS  SITUATION.  6$ 

Greenwich.  The  valley  of  the  Santa  Cruz,  although  not  much 
over  a  mile  and  a  half  wide,  is  wonderfully  fertile,  and  will  yield 
bountifully  of  all  cereals,  as  well  as  of  the  fruits  of  the  south 
temperate  or  north  tropical  climes,  and  could  easily  have  sup 
ported  a  much  larger  population,  but  on  account  of  the  bitter 
and  unrelenting  hostilities  waged  by  the  Apaches,  not  more  than 
3,200  souls  could  be  claimed,  although  enthusiasts  often  deluded 
themselves  into  a  belief  in  much  higher  figures,  owing  to  the 
almost  constant  presence  of  trains  of  wagons  hauled  by  patient 
oxen  or  quick-moving  mules,  or  ' '  carretas  "  drawn  by  the  philo 
sophical  donkey  or  "burro"  from  Sonora.  The  great  prairie- 
schooners  all  the  way  from  the  Missouri  River  made  a  very 
imposing  appearance,  as,  linked  two,  and  even  three,  together, 
they  rolled  along  with  their  heavy  burdens,  to  unload  at  the 
warehouses  of  the  great  merchants,  Lord  &  Williams,  Tully, 
Ochoa  &  De  Long,  the  Zeckendorfs,  Fish  &  Collingwood,  Leo- 
poldo  Garrillo,  or  other  of  the  men  of  those  days  whose  trans 
actions  ran  each  year  into  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars. 

Streets  and  pavements  there  were  none ;  lamps  were  unheard 
of ;  drainage  was  not  deemed  necessary,  and  water,  when  not 
bought  from  the  old  Mexican  who  hauled  it  in  barrels  in  a  di 
lapidated  cart  from  the  cool  spring  on  the  bishop's  farm,  was 
obtained  from  wells,  which  were  good  and  sweet  in  the  first  months 
of  their  career,  but  generally  became  so  impregnated  with  "alkali" 
that  they  had  to  be  abandoned ;  and  as  lumber  was  worth  twenty- 
five  cents  a  foot,  and  therefore  too  costly  to  be  used  in  covering 
them,  they  were  left  to  dry  up  of  their  own  accord,  and  remain  a 
menace  to  the  lives  and  limbs  of  belated  pedestrians.  There  was 
no  hint  in  history  or  tradition  of  a  sweeping  of  the  streets,  which 
were  every  bit  as  filthy  as  those  of  New  York. 

The  age  of  the  garbage  piles  was  distinctly  defined  by  geological 
strata.  In  the  lowest  portion  of  all  one  could  often  find  arrow 
heads  and  stone  axes,  indicatiye  of  a  pre-Columbian  origin  ;  super 
imposed  conformably  over  these,  as  the  geologists  used  to  say,  were 
skins  of  chile  Colorado,  great  pieces  of  rusty  spurs,  and  other  re 
liquiae  of  the  "  Conquistadores,"  while  high  above  all,  stray  cards, 
tomato  cans,  beer  bottles,  and  similar  evidences  of  a  higher  and 
nobler  civilization  told  just  how  long  the  Anglo-Saxon  had  called 
the  territory  his  own. 

This  filthy  condition  of  the  streets  gave  rise  to  a  weird  system 


64  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

of  topographical  designation.  "  You  want  to  find  the  Governor's  ? 
Wa'al,  podner,  jest  keep  right  down  this  yere  street  past  the  Pal 
ace  saloon,  till  yer  gets  ter  the  second  manure-pile  on  yer  right ; 
then  keep  to  yer  left  past  the  post-office,  V  yer'll  see  a  dead  burro 
in  th'  middle  of  th'  road,  V  a  mesquite  tree  'n  yer  lef ,  near  a 
Mexican  '  tendajon '  (small  store),  V  jes'  beyond  that  's  the 
Gov.'s  outfit.  Can't  miss  it.  Look  out  fur  th'  dawg  down  ter 
Munoz's  corral ;  he  's  a  salviated  son  ov  a  gun." 

It  took  some  time  for  the  ears  of  the  "  tenderfoot "  just  out 
from  the  States  to  become  habituated  to  the  chronology  of  that 
portion  of  our  vast  domain.  One  rarely  heard  months,  days,  or 
weeks  mentioned.  The  narrator  of  a  story  had  a  far  more  con 
venient  method  of  referring  back  to  dates  in  which  his  auditory 
might  be  interested.  "  Jes'  about  th'  time  Pete  Kitchen's  ranch 
was  jumped  " — which  wasn't  very  satisfactory,  as  Pete  Kitchen's 
ranch  was  always  getting  "  jumped."  "  Th'  night  afore  th'  Mar- 
icopa  stage  war  tuck  in."  "A  week  or  two  arter  Winters  made 
his  last  <  killin' '  in  th'  Dragoons."  "  Th'  last  fight  down  to  th' 
Picach."  "Th'  year  th'  Injuns  run  off  Tully,  Ochoa  V  DeLong 
bull  teams." 

Or,  under  other  aspects  of  the  daily  life  of  the  place,  there 
would  be  such  references  as,  "  Th'  night  after  Duffield  drawed  his 
gun  on  Jedge  Titus  " — a  rather  uncertain  reference,  since  Duffield 
was  always  "  drawin'  his  gun"  on  somebody.  "  Th'  time  of  th' 
feast  (i.e.,  of  Saint  Augustine,  the  patron  saint  of  the  town), 
when  Bob  Orandall  broke  th'  '  Ohusas '  game  fur  six  hundred 
dollars,"  and  other  expressions  of  similar  tenor,  which  replaced 
the  recollections  of  "  mowing  time," and  "  harvest,"  and  "sheep- 
shearing  "  of  older  communities. 

Another  strain  upon  the  unduly  excitable  brain  lay  in  the  im 
possibility  of  learning  exactly  how  many  miles  it  was  to  a  given 
point.  It  wasn't  "  fifty  miles,"  or  "  sixty  miles,"  or  "just  a  trifle 
beyond  the  Cienaga,  and  that  's  twenty-five  miles,"  but  rather, 
<e  Jes'  on  th'  rise  of  the  mesa  as  you  git  to  th'  place  whar  Saman- 
iego's  train  stood  off  th'  Apaches ; "  or,  "A  little  yan  way  from 
whar  they  took  in  Colonel  Stone's  stage  ;"  or,  "Jes'  whar  th'  big 
(  killin"  tuk  place  on  th'  long  mesa,"  and  much  more  of  the 
same  sort. 

There  were  watches  and  clocks  in  the  town,  and  some  Ameri 
cans  went  through  the  motions  of  consulting  them  at  intervals. 


THE  PAPAGOES  TWENTY  YEARS  AGO.  65 

So  far  as  influence  upon  the  community  went,  they  might  just  as 
well  have  been  in  the  bottom  of  the  Red  Sea.  The  divisions  of  the 
day  were  regulated  and  determined  by  the  bells  which  periodi 
cally  clanged  in  front  of  the  cathedral  church.  When  they  rang 
out  their  wild  peal  for  early  Mass,  the  little  world  by  the  Santa 
Cruz  rubbed  its  eyes,  threw  off  the  slight  covering  of  the  night, 
and  made  ready  for  the  labors  of  the  day.  The  alarm  clock  of  the 
Gringo  might  have  been  sounding  for  two  hours  earlier,  but  not 
one  man,  woman,  or  child  would  have  paid  the  slightest  attention 
to  the  cursed  invention  of  Satan.  When  the  Angelus  tolled  at 
meridian,  all  made  ready  for  the  noon-day  meal  and  the  post 
prandial  siesta  ;  and  when  the  hour  of  vespers  sounded,  adobes 
dropped  from  the  palsied  hands  of  listless  workmen,  and  docile 
Papagdfes,  wrapping  themselves  in  their  pieces  of  "manta"  or 
old  ^rebosos,"  turned  their  faces  southward,  mindful  of  the 
curfew  signal  learned  from  the  early  missionaries. 

They  were  a  singular  people,  the  Papagoes  ;  honest,  laborious, 
docile,  sober,  and  pure — not  an  improper  character  among  them. 
Only  one-  white  man  had  ever  been  allowed  to  marry  into  the  tribe 
— Buckskin  Aleck  Stevens,  of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  and  that  had 
to  be  a  marriage  with  bell,  book,  and  candle  and  every  formality 
to  protect  the  bride. 

I  do  not  know  anything  about  the  Papagoes  of  to-day,  and  am 
prepared  to  hear  that  they  have  sadly  degenerated.  The  Ameri 
cans  have  had  twenty  years  in  which  to  corrupt  them,  and  the  inti 
macy  can  hardly  have  been  to  the  advantage  of  the  red  man. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

SOME  OF  THE  FRIENDS  MET  IN  OLD  TUCSON — JACK  LONG — 
HIS  DIVORCE — MARSHAL  DUFFIELD  AND  "WACO  BILL  " — 
"  THEM  'ERE'S  MEE  VISITIN'  KEE-YARD  " — JUDGE  TITUS 
AND  CHARLES  0.  BROWN — HOW  DUFFIELD  WAS  KILLED — 

UNCLE    BILLY   N AND   HIS  THREE    GLASS    EYES — AL. 

GARRETT — DOCTOR  SEMIG   AND   LIEUTENANT  SHERWOOD — 

DON   ESTEVAN    OCHOA— BISHOP   SALPOINTE— PETE    KITCHEN 
AND   HIS   RANCH. 

"  OIEE  yar,  muchacho,  move  roun'  lively  now,  'n'  git  me  a 

O  "  Jinny  Lin'  steak."  It  was  a  strong,  hearty  voice  which 
sounded  in  my  ears  from  the  table  just  behind  me  in  the  ' (  Shoo 
Fly,"  and  made  me  mechanically  turn  about,  almost  as  much 
perplexed  as  was  the  waiter-boy,  Miguel,  by  the  strange  request. 

"  Would  you  have  any  objection,  sir,  to  letting  me  know  what 
you  mean  by  a  Jenny  Lind  steak  ?  " 

"  A  Jinny  Lin'  steak,  mee  son,  's  a  steak  cut  from  off  a  boss's 
upper  lip.  I  makes  it  a  rule  allers  to  git  what  I  orders  ;  V  ez 
far  'a  I  kin  see,  I'll  get  a  Jinny  Lin'  steak  anyhow  in  this  yere 
outfit,  so  I'm  kinder  takin'  time  by  the  fetlock,  'n'  orderin'  jes' 
what  I  want.  My  name's  Jack  Long  ;  what  mout  your'n  be  ?  " 

It  was  apparent,  at  half  a  glance,  that  Jack  Long  was  not 
"in  sassiety,"  unless  it  might  be  a  "sassiety"  decidedly  addicted 
to  tobacco,  given  to  the  use  of  flannel  instead  of  "  b'iled  "  shirts, 
never  without  six-shooter  on  hip,  and  indulging  in  profanity  by 
the  wholesale. 

A  better  acquaintance  with  old  Jack  showed  that,  like  the 
chestnut,  his  roughest  part  was  on  the  outside.  Courage,  ten 
derness,  truth,  and  other  manly  attributes  peered  out  from  under 
roughness  of  garb  and  speech.  He  was  one  of  Gray's  "gems  of 
purest  ray  serene,"  born  in  "the  dark,  unfathomed  caves"  of 
frontier  isolation. 

Jack  Long  had  not  always  been  "  Jack  "  Long.     Once,  way 


JACK  LONG.  67 

back  in  the  early  fifties,  he  and  his  "podners"  had  struck  it  rich 
on  some  "placer"  diggings  which  they  had  preempted  on  the 
Yuba,  and  in  less  than  no  time  my  friend  was  heralded  to  the 
mountain  communities  as  "  Jedge  "  Long.  This  title  had  never 
been  sought,  and,  in  justice  to  the  recipient,  it  should  be  made 
known  that  he  discarded  it  at  once,  and  would  none  of  it.  The 
title  "  Jedge  "  on  the  frontier  does  not  always  imply  respect,  and 
Jack  would  tolerate  nothing  ambiguous. 

He  was  bound  to  be  a  gentleman  or  nothing.  Before  the  week 
was  half  over  he  was  arrayed,  not  exactly  like  Solomon,  but  much 
more  conspicuously,  in  the  whitest  of  "  b'iled  "  shirts,  in  the 
bosom  of  which  glistened  the  most  brilliant  diamond  cluster  pin 
that  money  could  procure  from  Sacramento.  On  the  warty  red 
fingers  of  his  right  hand  sparkled  its  mate,  and  pendent  from 
his  waist  a  liberal  handful  of  the  old-fashioned  seals  and  keys  of 
the  time  attracted  attention  to  the  ponderous  gold  chain  encir 
cling  his  neck,  and  securing  the  biggest  specimen  of  a  watch 
known  to  fact  or  fiction  since  the  days  of  Captain  Cuttle. 

Carelessly  strolling  up  to  the  bar  of  the  "  Quartz  Rock,"  the 
"Hanging  Wall,"  or  the  "Golden  West,"  he  would  say,  in  the 
cheeriest  way  : 

"  Gents,  whatll  yer  all  hev  ?  It's  mine  this  time,  barkeep." 
And,  spurning  the  change  obsequiously  tendered  by  the  officiat 
ing  genius  of  the  gilded  slaughter-house  of  morality,  Jack  would 
push  back  the  twenty-dollar  gold  piece  with  which  he  usually 
began  his  evenings  with  "  the  boys,"  and  ask,  in  a  tone  of  injured 
pride  :  "  Is  there  any  use  in  insultin'  a  man  when  he  wants  to 
treat  his  friends  ? "  And  barkeeper  and  all  in  the  den  would 
voice  the  sentiment  that  a  "  gent "  who  was  as  liberal  with  his 
double  eagles  as  Colonel  Long  was  a  gent  indeed,  and  a  man 
anybody  could  afford  to  tie  to. 

It  was  the  local  paper  which  gave  Jack  his  military  title,  and 
alluded  to  the  growing  demand  that  the  colonel  should  accept 
the  nomination  for  Congress.  And  to  Congress  he  would  have 
gone,  too,  had  not  fickle  Fortune  turned  her  back  upon  her 
whilom  favorite. 

Jack  had  the  bad  luck  to  fall  in  love  and  to  be  married — not 
for  the  first  time,  as  he  had  had  previous  experience  in  the  same 
direction,  his  first  wife  being  the  youngest  daughter  of  the  great 
Indian  chief  "  Cut-Mouth  John,"  of  the  Rogue  River  tribe,  who 


68  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

ran  away  from  Jack  and  took  to  the  mountains  when  her  people 
went  on  the  war-path.  The  then  wife  was  a  white  woman 
from  Missouri,  and,  from  all  I  can  learn,  a  very  good  mate  for 
Jack,  excepting  that  prosperity  turned  her  head  and  made  her 
very  extravagant.  So  long  as  Jack's  mine  was  panning  out 
freely  Jack  didn't  mind  much  what  she  spent,  but  when  it 
petered,  and  economy  became  necessary,  dissensions  soon  arose 
between  them,  and  it  was  agreed  that  they  were  not  compatible. 

"If  you  don't  like  me,"  said  Mrs.  Long  one  day,  "give  me 
a  divorce  and  one-half  of  what  you  have,  and  I'll  leave  you." 

"  'N"uff  sed,"  was  Jack's  reply,  "  V  here  goes." 

The  sum  total  in  the  Long  exchequer  was  not  quite  $200.  Of 
this,  Jack  laid  to  one  side  a  double  eagle,  for  a  purpose  soon  to 
be  explained.  The  remainder  was  divided  into  two  even  piles, 
one  of  which  was  handed  over  to  his  spouse.  The  doors  of  the 
wardrobe  stood  open,  disclosing  all  of  Jack's  regal  raiment.  He 
seized  a  pair  of  trousers,  tore  them  leg  from  leg,  and  then  served 
in  much  the  same  way  every  coat,  waistcoat,  or  undergarment  he 
owned.  One  pile  of  remnants  was  assigned  to  the  stupefied 
woman,  who  ten  minutes  previously  had  been  demanding  a  sep 
aration. 

Before  another  ten  had  passed  her  own  choicest  treasures  had 
shared  the  same  fate,  and  her  ex-liege  lord  was  devoting  his 
attention  to  breaking  the  cooking  stove,  with  its  superstructure  of 
pots  and  pans  and  kettles,  into  two  little  hillocks  of  battered 
fragments  ;  and  no  sooner  through  with  that  than  at  work  saw 
ing  the  tables  and  chairs  in  half  and  knocking  the  solitary  mirror 
into  smithereens. 

"  Thar  yer  are,"  said  Jack.  "  Ye  V  got  half  th'  money,  V  yer 
kin  now  tek  yer  pick  o*  what's  left." 

The  stage  had  come  along  on  its  way  down  to  Sacramento,  and 
Jack  hailed  the  driver.  "Mrs.  Long's  goin'  down  th'  road  a  bit 
ter  see  some  o'  her  kin,  'n'  ter  get  a  breath  o'  fresh  air.  Tek  her 
ez  fur  ez  this  11  pay  fur,  'n'  then  shell  tell  whar  else  she  wants 
ter  go." 

And  that  was  Jack  Long's  divorce  and  the  reason  why  he  left 
the  mining  regions  of  California  and  wandered  far  and  near, 
beginning  the  battle  of  life  anew  as  packer  and  prospector,  and 
drifting  down  into  the  drainage  of  the  Gila  and  into  the  "  Shoo 
Fly  "  restaurant,  where  we  have  just  met  him. 


THE   PROWESS  OF  DUFFIELD.  6g 

There  shall  be  many  other  opportunities  of  meeting  and  con 
versing  with  old  Jack  before  the  campaigning  against  the 
Apaches  is  half  through,  so  we  need  not  urge  him  to  remain  now 
that  he  has  finished  his  meal  and  is  ready  to  sally  forth.  We 
return  heartily  the  very  cheery  greeting  tendered  by  the  gentle 
man  who  enters  the  dining-room  in  his  place.  It  is  ex-Marshal 
Duffield,  a  very  peculiar  sort  of  a  man,  who  stands  credited  in 
public  opinion  with  having  killed  thirteen  persons.  How  much 
of  this  is  truth  and  how  much  is  pure  gossip,  as  meaningless  as 
the  chatter  of  the  "pechotas"  which  gather  along  the  walls  of 
the  corral  every  evening  the  moment  the  grain  of  the  horses  is 
dealt  out  to  them,  I  cannot  say  ;  but  if  the  reader  desire  to  learn 
of  a  unique  character  in  our  frontier  history  he  will  kindly  per 
mit  me  to  tell  something  of  the  only  man  in  the  Territory  of 
Arizona,  and  I  may  say  of  New  Mexico  and  western  Texas  as 
well,  who  dared  wear  a  plug  hat.  There  was  nothing  so  obnox 
ious  in  the  sight  of  people  living  along  the  border  as  the  black 
silk  tile.  The  ordinary  man  assuming  such  an  addition  to  his 
attire  would  have  done  so  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  but  Duffield 
was  no  ordinary  individual.  He  wore  clothes  to  suit  himself, 
and  woe  to  the  man  who  might  fancy  otherwise. 

Who  Duffield  was  before  coming  out  to  Arizona  I  never  could 
learn  to  my  own  satisfaction.  Indeed,  I  do  not  remember  ever 
having  any  but  the  most  languid  interest  in  that  part  of  his 
career,  because  he  kept  us  so  fully  occupied  in  keeping  track  of 
his  escapades  in  Arizona  that  there  was  very  little  time  left  for 
investigations  into  his  earlier  movements.  Yet  I  do  recall  the 
whispered  story  that  he  had  been  one  of  President  Lincoln's 
discoveries,  and  that  the  reason  for  his  appointment  lay  in  the 
courage  Duffield  had  displayed  in  the  New  York  riots  during  the 
war.  It  seems — and  I  tell  the  tale  with  many  misgivings,  as  my 
memory  does  not  retain  all  the  circumstances — that  Duffield  was 
passing  along  one  of  the  streets  in  which  the  rioters  were  having 
things  their  own  way,  and  there  he  saw  a  poor  devil  of  a  colored 
man  fleeing  from  some  drunken  pursuers,  who  were  bent  on 
hanging  him  to  the  nearest  lamp-post.  Duffield  allowed  the 
black  man  to  pass  him,  and  then,  as  the  mob  approached  on  a  hot 
scent,  he  levelled  his  pistol — his  constant  companion — and  blew 
out  the  brains  of  the  one  in  advance,  and,  as  the  story  goes,  hit 
two  others,  as  fast  as  he  could  draw  bead  on  them,  for  I  must 


70  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

take  care  to  let  my  readers  know  that  my  friend  was  one  of  the 
crack  shots  of  America;  and  was  wont  while  he  lived  in  Tucson 
to  drive  a  ten-penny  nail  into  an  adobe  wall  every  day  before  he 
would  go  into  the  house  to  eat  his  evening  meal.  At  the  present 
moment  he  was  living  at  the  "  Shoo  Fly,"  and  was  one  of  the 
most  highly  respected  members  of  the  mess  that  gathered  there. 
He  stood  not  less  than  six  feet  three  in  his  stockings,  was  ex 
tremely  broad-shouldered,  powerful,  muscular,  and  finely  knit ; 
dark  complexion,  black  hair,  eyes  keen  as  briars  and  black  as  jet, 
fists  as  big  as  any  two  fists  to  be  seen  in  the  course  of  a  day ;  dis 
putatious,  somewhat  quarrelsome,  but  not  without  very  amiable 
qualities.  His  bravery,  at  least,  was  never  called  in  question.  He 
was  no  longer  United  States  marshal,  but  was  holding  the  position 
of  Mail  Inspector,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  discharged  his 
delicate  and  dangerous  duties  was  always  commendable  and  very 
often  amusing. 

"  You  see,  it  'a  jest  like  this,"  he  once  remarked  to  the  post 
master  of  one  of  the  smallest  stations  in  his  jurisdiction,  and  in 
speaking  the  inspector's  voice  did  not  show  the  slightest  sign  of 
anger  or  excitement — "  you  see,  the  postmaster-general  is  growl 
ing  at  me  because  there  is  so  much  thieving  going  on  along  this 
line,  so  that  I'm  gittin'  kind  o'  tired  V  must  git  th'  whole  bizz  off 
mee  mind  ;  'n'ez  I  've  looked  into  the  whole  thing  and  feel  satis 
fied  that  you're  the  thief,  I  think  you'd  better  be  pilin'  out  o' 
here  without  any  more  nonsense." 

The  postmaster  was  gone  inside  of  twelve  hours,  and  there  was 
no  more  stealing  on  that  line  while  Duffield  held  his  position. 
Either  the  rest  of  the  twelve  dollars  per  annum  postmasters  were 
an  extremely  honest  set,  or  else  they  were  scared  by  the  mere  pres 
ence  of  Duffield.  He  used  to  be  very  fond  of  showing  his  power 
ful  muscle,  and  would  often  seize  one  of  the  heavy  oak  chairs  in 
.the  "  Congress  Hall "  bar-room  in  one  hand,  and  lift  it  out  at 
arm's  length ;  or  take  some  of  the  people  who  stood  near  him  and 
lift  them  up,  catching  hold  of  the  feet  only. 

How  well  I  remember  the  excitement  which  arose  in  Tucson 
the  day  that  "  Waco  Bill "  arrived  in  town  with  a  wagon  train  on 
its  way  to  Los  Angeles.  Mr.  "  Waco  Bill "  was  a  (<  tough  "  in  the 
truest  sense  of  the  term,  and  being  from  half  to  three-quarters 
full  of  the  worst  liquor  to  be  found  in  Tucson — and  I  hope  I  am 
violating  no  confidence  when  I  say  that  some  of  the  vilest  coffin 


"WACO  BILL."  71 

varnish  on  the  mundane  sphere  was  to  be  found  there  by  those 
who  tried  diligently — was  anxious  to  meet  and  subdue  this  Duf 
field,  of  whom  such  exaggerated  praise  was  sounding  in  his  ears. 

"  Whar  s  Duffer  ?  "  he  cried,  or  hiccoughed,  as  he  approached 
the  little  group  of  which  Duffield  was  the  central  figure.  "  I  want 
Duffer  (hie);  he  's  my  meat.  Whoop  ! " 

The  words  had  hardly  left  his  mouth  before  something  shot  out 
from  Duffield's  right  shoulder.  It  was  that  awful  fist,  which  could, 
upon  emergency,  have  felled  an  ox,  and  down  went  our  Texan 
sprawling  upon  the  ground.  No  sooner  had  he  touched  Mother 
Earth  than,  true  to  his  Texan  instincts,  his  hand  sought  his  re 
volver,  and  partly  drew  it  out  of  holster.  Duffield  retained  his 
preternatural  calmness,  and  did  not  raise  his  voice  above  a  whis 
per  the  whole  time  that  his  drunken  opponent  was  hurling  all 
kinds  of  anathemas  at  him  ;  but  now  he  saw  that  something  must 
be  done.  In  Arizona  it  was  not  customary  to  pull  a  pistol  upon  a 
man  ;  that  was  regarded  as  an  act  both  unchristian-like  and  waste 
ful  of  time — Arizonanas  nearly  always  shot  out  of  the  pocket 
without  drawing  their  weapons  at  all,  and  into  Mr.  "  Waco  Bill's" 
groin  went  the  sure  bullet  of  the  man  who,  local  wits  used  to  say, 
wore  crape  upon  his  hat  in  memory  of  his  departed  virtues. 

The  bullet  struck,  and  Duffield  bent  over  with  a  most  Chester- 
fieldian  bow  and  wave  of  the  hand  :  "  My  name  's  Duffield,  sir," 
he  said,  "and  them  'ere  's  mee  visitin'  card/' 

If  there  was  one  man  in  the  world  who  despised  another  it  was 
Chief-Justice  John  Titus  in  his  scorn  for  the  ex-marshal,  which 
found  open  expression  on  every  occasion.  Titus  was  a  gentleman 
of  the  old  school,  educated  in  the  City  of  Brotherly  Love,  and 
anxious  to  put  down  the  least  semblance  of  lawlessness  and  dis 
order  ;  yet  here  was  an  officer  of  the  Government  whose  quarrels 
were  notorious  and  of  every-day  occurrence. 

Persuasion,  kindly  remonstrance,  earnest  warning  were  alike 
ineffectual,  and  in  time  the  relations  between  the  two  men  became 
of  the  most  formal,  not  to  say  rancorous,  character.  Judge  Titus 
at  last  made  up  his  mind  that  the  very  first  excuse  for  so  doing  he 
would  have  Duffield  hauled  up  for  carrying  deadly  weapons,  and 
an  occasion  arose  much  sooner  than  he  imagined. 

There  was  a  "baile"  given  that  same  week,  and  Duffield  was 
present  with  many  others.  People  usually  went  on  a  peace  footing 
to  these  assemblies — that  is  to  say,  all  the  heavy  armament  was  left 


72  ON   THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

at  home,  and  nothing  taken  along  but  a  few  Derringers,  which 
would  come  handy  in  case  of  accident. 

There  were  some  five  or  six  of  us — all  friends  of  Duffield — sit 
ting  in  a  little  back  room  away  from  the  long  saloon  in  which 
the  dance  was  going  on,  and  we  had  Duffield  in  such  good  humor 
that  he  consented  to  produce  some  if  not  all  of  the  weapons  with 
which  he  was  loaded.  He  drew  them  from  the  arm-holes  of  his 
waistcoat,  from  his  boot-legs,  from  his  hip-pockets,  from  the  back 
of  his  neck,  and  there  they  all  were— eleven  lethal  weapons, 
mostly  small  Derringers,  with  one  knife.  Comment  was  use 
less  ;  for  my  own  part,  I  did  not  feel  called  upon  to  criticise 
my  friend's  eccentricities  or  amiable  weaknesses,  whatever  they 
might  be,  so  I  kept  my  mouth  shut,  and  the  others  followed  my 
example.  I  suppose  that  on  a  war-footing  nothing  less  than  a 
couple  of  Gatling  guns  would  have  served  to  round  out  the  arma 
ment  to  be  brought  into  play. 

Whether  it  was  a  true  alarm  or  a  false  one  I  couldn't  tell,  but 
the  next  day  Judge  Titus  imagined  that  a  movement  of  Duf- 
field's  hand  was  intended  to  bring  to  bear  upon  himself  a  portion 
of  the  Duffield  ordnance,  and  he  had  the  old  man  arrested  and 
brought  before  him  on  the  charge  of  carrying  concealed  deadly 
weapons. 

The  court-room  was  packed  with  a  very  orderly  crowd,  listening 
attentively  to  a  long  exordium  from  the  lips  of  the  judge  upon 
the  enormity  and  the  uselessness  of  carrying  concealed  deadly 
weapons.  The  judge  forgot  that  men  would  carry  arms  so  long  as 
danger  real  or  imaginary  encompassed  them,  and  that  the  opinions 
prevailing  upon  that  subject  in  older  communities  could  not  be 
expected  to  obtain  in  the  wilder  regions. 

In  Arizona,  the  reader  should  know,  all  the  officers  of  the  law 
were  Americans.  In  New  Mexico,  on  the  contrary,  they  were 
almost  without  exception  Mexicans,  and  the  legal  practice  was 
entirely  different  from  our  own,  as  were  the  usages  and  customs 
of  various  kinds.  For  example,  one  could  go  before  one  of  those 
Rio  Grande  alcaldes  in  Socorro,  San  Antonio,  or  Sabinal,  and 
wear  just  what  clothes  he  pleased,  or  not  wear  any  if  he  didn't 
please ;  it  would  be  all  right.  He  might  wear  a  hat,  or  go  in  his 
shirt  sleeves,  or  go  barefoot,  or  roll  himself  a  cigarrito,  and  it 
would  be  all  right.  But  let  him  dare  enter  with  spurs,  and  the 
ushers  would  throw  him  out,  and  it  was  a  matter  of  great  good 


CARRYING  CONCEALED  WEAPONS.  73 

luck  if  he  did  not  find  himself  in  the  calaboose  to  boot,  for  con 
tempt  of  court. 

"Call  the  first  witness  ;  call  Charles  0.  Brown." 

Mr.  Charles  0.  Brown,  under  oath,  stated  his  name,  residence, 
and  occupation,  and  was  then  directed  to  show  to  the  judge  and 
jury  how  the  prisoner — Duffield — had  drawn  his  revolver  the  day 
previous. 

"  Well,  jedge,  the  way  he  drawed  her  was  jest  this."  And  suit 
ing  the  action  to  the  word,  Mr.  Charles  0.  Brown,  the  main  wit 
ness  for  the  prosecution,  drew  a  six-shooter,  fully  cocked,  from  the 
holster  on  his  hip.  There  was  a  ripple  of  laughter  in  the  court 
room,  as  every  one  saw  at  once  the  absurdity  of  trying  to  hold 
one  man  responsible  for  the  misdemeanor  of  which  a  whole  com 
munity  was  guilty,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  matter  was  nolle 
pressed. 

I  will  end  up  the  career  of  the  marshal  in  this  chapter,  as  we 
shall  have  no  further  cause  to  introduce  him  in  these  pages.  His 
courage  was  soon  put  to  the  severest  sort  of  a  test  when  a  party 
of  desperadoes  from  Sonora,  who  had  been  plundering  in  their  own 
country  until  driven  across  the  line,  began  their  operations  in 
Arizona.  At  the  dead  of  night  they  entered  Duffield's  house,  and 
made  a  most  desperate  assault  upon  him  while  asleep  in  his  bed. 
By  some  sort  of  luck  the  blow  aimed  with  a  hatchet  failed  to  hit 
him  on  head  or  neck — probably  his  assailants  were  too  drunk  to 
see  what  they  were  doing — and  chopped  out  a  frightful  gash  in  the 
shoulder,  which  would  have  killed  the  general  run  of  men.  Duf 
field,  as  has  been  shown,  was  a  giant  in  strength,  and  awakened 
by  the  pain,  and  at  once  realizing  what  had  happened,  he  sprang 
from  his  couch  and  grappled  with  the  nearest  of  the  gang  of 
burglars,  choked  him,  and  proceeded  to  use  him  as  a  weapon 
with  which  to  sweep  out  of  the  premises  the  rest  of  the  party, 
who,  seeing  that  the  household  had  been  alarmed,  made  good  their 
escape. 

Duffield  was  too  much  exhausted  from  loss  of  blood  to  retain 
his  hold  upon  the  rascal  whom  he  had  first  seized,  so  that  Justice 
did  not  succeed  in  laying  her  hands  upon  any  of  the  band. 
When  Duffield  recovered  sufficiently  to  be  able  to  reappear  on 
the  streets,  he  did  not  seem  to  be  the  same  man.  He  no  longer 
took  pleasure  in  rows,  but  acted  like  one  who  had  had  enough 
of  battles,  and  was  willing  to  live  at  peace  with  his  fellow-men. 


74  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Unfortunately,  if  one  acquire  the  reputation  of  being  "  a  bad 
man  "  on  the  frontier,  it  will  stick  to  him  for  a  generation  after 
he  has  sown  his  wild  oats,  and  is  trying  to  bring  about  a  rotation 
of  crops. 

Duffield  was  killed  at  Tombstone  ten  years  since,  not  far  from 
the  Contention  Mine,  by  a  young  man  named  Holmes,  who  had 
taken  up  a  claim  in  which  Duffield  asserted  an  interest.  The 
moment  he  saw  Duffield  approaching  he  levelled  a  shot-gun  upon 
him,  and  warned  him  not  to  move  a  foot,  and  upon  Duffield's 
still  advancing  a  few  paces  he  filled  him  full  of  buckshot,  and 
the  coroner's  jury,  without  leaving  their  seats,  returned  a  verdict 
of  justifiable  homicide,  because  the  old,  old  Duffield,  who  was 
(e  on  the  shoot,"  was  still  remembered,  and  the  new  man,  who  had 
turned  over  a  new  leaf  and  was  trying  to  lead  a  new  life,  was  still 
a  stranger  in  the  land. 

Peace  to  his  ashes  ! 

There  were  military  as  well  as  non- military  men  in  Tucson, 
and  although  the  following  incident  did  not  occur  under  my  per 
sonal  observation,  and  was  one  of  those  stories  that  "  leak  out/' 
I  tell  it  as  filling  in  a  gap  in  the  description  of  life  as  it  was  in 
Arizona  twenty  and  twenty-five  years  ago.  All  the  persons  con 
cerned  were  boarders  at  the  "  Shoo  Fly,"  and  all  are  now  dead, 
or  out  of  service  years  and  years  ago. 

The  first  was  the  old  field  officer  whom,  for  want  of  a  better 

name,  every  one  called  "  Old  Uncle  Billy  N ."  He  had  met 

with  a  grievous  misfortune,  and  lost  one  of  his  eyes,  but  bore  his 
trouble  with  stoicism  and  without  complaint.  During  a  brief 
visit  to  Boston,  he  had  arranged  with  an  oculist  and  optician  to 
have  made  for  him  three  glass  eyes.  "  But  I  don't  clearly  un 
derstand  what  you  want  with  so  many/'  said  the  Boston  man. 

"Well,  I'll  tell  you,"  replied  the  son  of  Mars.  "  You  see,  I 
want  one  for  use  when  I'm  sober,  one  when  I'm  drunk,  and  one 
when  I'm  p d drunk." 

The  glass  eyes  were  soon  ready  to  meet  the  varying  conditions 
of  the  colonel's  life,  and  gave  the  old  man  the  liveliest  satisfac 
tion.  Not  long  after  his  return  to  the  bracing  climate  of  Tuc 
son  he  made  the  round  of  the  gaming-tables  at  the  Feast  of 
Saint  Augustine,  which  was  then  in  full  blast,  and  happened  to 
"copper"  the  ace,  when  he  should  have  bet  "straight,"  and  bet 
on  the  queen  when  that  fickle  lady  was  refusing  the  smile  of  her 


A  FALL  DOWN  A   WELL.  75 

countenance  to  all  her  admirers.  It  was  a  gloomy  day  for  the 
colonel  when  he  awaked  to  find  himself  almost  without  a  dollar, 
and  no  paymaster  to  be  expected  from  San  Francisco  for  a  couple 
of  months.  A  brilliant  thought  struck  him  ;  he  would  economize 
by  sending  back  to  Boston  two  of  his  stock  of  glass  eyes,  which 
he  did  not  really  need,  as  the  "  sober  "  and  " tolerably  drunk" 
ones  had  never  been  used,  and  ought  to  fetch  something  of  a 
price  at  second-hand. 

The  Boston  dealer,  however,  curtly  refused  to  negotiate  a  sale, 
saying  that  he  did  not  do  business  in  that  way,  and,  as  if  to  add 
insult  to  injury,  enclosed  the  two  eyes  in  a  loose  sheet  of  paper, 
which  was  inscribed  with  a  pathetic  story  about  "  The  Drunkard 
Saved. "  It  took  at  least  a  dozen  rounds  of  drinks  before  the  colonel 
could  drown  his  wrath,  and  satisfy  the  inquiries  of  condoling 
friends  who  had  learned  of  the  brutal  treatment  to  which  he  had 
been  subjected. 

A  great  friend  of  the  colonel 's  was  Al.  Garrett,  who  in  stat 
ure  was  his  elder's  antithesis,  being  as  short  and  wiry  as  the 
colonel  was  large  and  heavy.  G-arrett  was  an  extremely  good- 
hearted  youngster,  and  one  of  the  best  horsemen  in  the  whole 
army.  His  admirers  used  to  claim  that  he  could  ride  anything 
with  four  legs  to  it,  from  a  tarantula  to  a  megatherium.  Semig, 
the  third  of  the  trio,  was  a  Viennese,  a  very  cultivated  man,  a 
graduate  in  medicine,  an  excellent  musician,  a  graceful  dancer,  well 
versed  in  modern  languages,  and  well  educated  in  every  respect. 
He  was  the  post  surgeon  at  Camp  Crittenden,  sixty  miles  to 
the  south  of  Tucson,  but  was  temporarily  at  the  latter  place. 

He  and  Garrett  and  Uncle  Billy  were  making  the  best  of  their 
way  home  from  supper  at  the  "  Shoo  Fly  "  late  one  evening,  and 
had  started  to  cut  across  lots  after  passing  the  "  Plaza." 

There  were  no  fences,  no  covers — nothing  at  all  to  prevent 
pedestrians  from  falling  into  some  one  of  the  innumerable  aban 
doned  wells  which  were  to  be  met  with  in  every  block,  and  it  need 
surprise  no  one  to  be  told  that  in  the  heat  of  argument  about 
some  trivial  matter  the  worthy  medical  officer,  who  was  walking 
in  the  middle,  fell  down  plump  some  fifteen  or  twenty  feet,  land 
ing  in  a  more  or  less  bruised  condition  upon  a  pile  of  adobes  and 
pieces  of  rock  at  the  bottom. 

Garrett  and  his  elderly  companion  lurched  against  each  other 
and  continued  the  discussion,  oblivious  of  the  withdrawal  of 


76  ON  THE  BORDER   WITH  CROOK. 

their  companion,  who  from  his  station  at  the  bottom  of  the  pit, 
like  another  Joseph,  was  bawling  for  his  heartless  brothers  to 
return  and  take  him  out.  After  his  voice  failed  he  bethought 
him  of  his  revolver,  which  he  drew  from  hip,  and  with  which 
he  blazed  away,  attracting  the  attention  of  a  party  of  Mexicans 
returning  from  a  dance,  who  too  hastily  concluded  that  Semig 
was  a  "Gringo"  spoiling  for  a  fight,  whereupon  they  gave  him 
their  best  services  in  rolling  down  upon  him  great  pieces  of  adobe, 
which  imparted  renewed  vigor  to  Semig's  vocalization  and  finally 
awakened  the  Mexicans  to  a  suspicion  of  the  true  state  of  the 
case. 

The  poor  doctor  never  heard  the  last  of  his  mishap,  and  very 
likely  was  glad  to  receive  the  order  which  transferred  him  to  the 
Modoc  War,  wherein  he  received  the  wounds  of  which  he  after 
ward  died.  He  showed  wonderful  coolness  in  the  Lava  Beds, 
and  even  after  the  Indians  had  wounded  him  in  the  shoulder 
and  he  had  been  ordered  off  the  field,  he  refused  to  leave  the 
wounded  under  fire  until  a  second  shot  broke  his  leg  and  knocked 
him  senseless. 

Associated  with  Semig  in  my  recollection  is  the  name  of  young 
Sherwood,  a  First  Lieutenant  in  the  Twenty-first  Infantry,  who 
met  his  death  in  the  same  campaign.  He  was  a  man  of  the  best 
impulses,  bright,  brave,  and  generous,  and  a  general  favorite. 

This  rather  undersized  gentleman  coming  down  the  street  is  a 
man  with  a  history — perhaps  it  might  be  perfectly  correct  to  say 
with  two  or  three  histories.  He  is  Don  Estevan  Ochoa,  one  of 
the  most  enterprising  merchants,  as  he  is  admitted  to  be  one  of 
the  coolest  and  bravest  men,  in  all  the  south  western  country.  He 
has  a  handsome  face,  a  keen  black  eye,  a  quick,  business-like  air, 
with  very  polished  and  courteous  manners. 

During  the  war  the  Southern  leaders  thought  they  would  estab 
lish  a  chain  of  posts  across  the  continent  from  Texas  to  Cali 
fornia,  and  one  of  their  first  movements  was  to  send  a  brigade  of 
Texans  to  occupy  Tucson.  The  commanding  general — Turner 
byname — sent  for  Don  Estevan  and  told  him  that  he  had  been 
informed  that  he  was  an  outspoken  sympathizer  with  the  cause 
of  the  Union,  but  he  hoped  that  Ochoa  would  see  that  the 
Union  was  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  reconcile  himself  to  the  new 
state  of  affairs,  and  take  the  oath  to  the  Confederacy,  and  thus 
relieve  the  new  commander  from  the  disagreeable  responsibility 


DON  ESTEVAN  OCHOA.  77 

of  confiscating  his  property  and  setting  him  adrift  outside  his 
lines. 

Don  Estevan  never  hesitated  a  moment.  He  was  not  that 
kind  of  a  man.  His  reply  was  perfectly  courteous,  as  I  am  told 
all  the  talk  on  the  part  of  the  Confederate  officer  had  been. 
Ochoa  owed  all  he  had  in  the  world  to  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  and  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  take  an 
oath  of  fidelity  to  any  hostile  power  or  party.  When  would  Gen 
eral  Turner  wish  him  to  leave  ? 

He  was  allowed  to  select  one  of  his  many  horses,  and  to  take 
a  pair  of  saddle-bags  filled  with  such  clothing  and  food  as  he 
could  get  together  on  short  notice,  and  then,  with  a  rifle  and 
twenty  rounds  of  ammunition,  was  led  outside  the  lines  and 
started  for  the  Rio  Grande.  How  he  ever  made  his  way  across 
those  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  desert  and  mountains  which 
intervened  between  the  town  of  Tucson  and  the  Union  outposts 
nearer  to  the  Rio  Grande,  I  do  not  know — nobody  knows.  The 
country  was  infested  by  the  Apaches,  and  no  one  of  those  upon 
whom  he  turned  his  back  expected  to  hear  of  his  getting  through 
alive.  But  he  did  succeed,  and  here  he  is,  a  proof  of  devotion 
to  the  cause  of  the  nation  for  which  it  would  be  hard  to  find  a 
parallel.  When  the  Union  troops  reoccupied  Tucson  Don  Este 
van  resumed  business  and  was  soon  wealthy  again,  in  spite  of  the 
tribute  levied  by  the  raiding  Apaches,  who  once  ran  off  every 
head  of  draught  oxen  the  firm  of  Tully,  Ochoa  &  De  Long  pos 
sessed,  and  never  stopped  until  they  had  crossed  the  Rio  Salado, 
or  Salt  River,  where  they  killed  and  "jerked"  the  meat  on  the 
slope  of  that  high  mesa  which  to  this  day  bears  the  name  of 
"Jerked  Beef  Butte." 

Another  important  factor  in  the  formative  period  of  Arizona's 
growth  is  this  figure  walking  briskly  by,  clad  in  the  cassock  of 
an  ecclesiastic.  It  is  Bishop  Salpointe,  a  man  of  learning,  great 
administrative  capacity,  and  devoted  to  the  interests  of  his  people. 
He  preaches  little,  but  practises  much.  In  many  ways  unknown 
to  his  flock  he  is  busy  with  plans  for  their  spiritual  and  worldly 
advancement,  and  the  work  he  accomplishes  in  establishing 
schools,  both  in  Tucson  and  in  the  Papago  village  of  San  Xavier, 
is  something  which  should  not  soon  be  forgotten  by  the  people 
benefited.  He  is  very  poor.  All  that  one  can  see  in  his  house  is 
a  crucifix  and  a  volume  of  precious  manuscript  notes  upon  the 


78  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Apaches  and  Papagoes.  He  seems  to  be  always  cheerful.  His 
poverty  he  freely  shares  with  his  flock,  and  I  have  often  thought 
that  if  he  ever  had  any  wealth  he  would  share  that  too. 

This  one  whom  we  meet  upon  the  street  as  we  leave  to  visit 
one  of  the  gambling  saloons  is  Pete  Kitchen.  We  shall  be  in  luck 
if  he  invite  us  to  visit  him  at  his  "  ranch/'  which  has  all  the  airs 
of  a  feudal  castle  in  the  days  of  chivalry.  Peter  Kitchen  has 
probably  had  more  contests  with  Indians  than  any  other  settler 
in  America.  He  comes  from  the  same  stock  which  sent  out  from 
the  lovely  vales  and  swales  in  the  Tennessee  Mountains  the  con 
tingent  of  riflemen  who  were  to  cut  such  a  conspicuous  figure 
at  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  and  Peter  finds  just  as  steady 
employment  for  his  trusty  rifle  as  ever  was  essential  in  the 
Delta. 

Approaching  Pete  Kitchen's  ranch,  one  finds  himself  in  a  fer 
tile  valley,  with  a  small  hillock  near  one  extremity.  Upon  the 
summit  of  this  has  been  built  the  house  from  which  no  effort  of 
the  Apaches  has  ever  succeeded  in  driving  our  friend.  There 
is  a  sentinel  posted  on  the  roof,  there  is  another  out  in  the 
"cienaga"  with  the  stock,  and  the  men  ploughing  in  the  bot 
tom  are  obliged  to  carry  rifles,  cocked  and  loaded,  swung  to  the 
plough  handle.  Every  man  and  boy  is  armed  with  one  or  two 
revolvers  on  hip.  There  are  revolvers  and  rifles  and  shotguns 
along  the  walls  and  in  every  corner.  Everything  speaks  of  a 
land  of  warfare  and  bloodshed.  The  title  of  "Dark  and  Bloody 
Ground  "  never  fairly  belonged  to  Kentucky.  Kentucky  never 
was  anything  except  a  Sunday-school  convention  in  comparison 
with  Arizona,  every  mile  of  whose  surface  .could  tell  its  tale  of 
horror  were  the  stones  and  gravel,  the  sage-brush  and  mescal, 
the  mesquite  and  the  yucca,  only  endowed  with  speech  for  one 
brief  hour. 

Within  the  hospitable  walls  of  the  Kitchen  home  the  traveller 
was  made  to  feel  perfectly  at  ease.  If  food  were  not  already  on 
the  fire,  some  of  the  women  set  about  the  preparation  of  the 
savory  and  spicy  stews  for  which  the  Mexicans  are  deservedly 
famous,  and  others  kneaded  the  dough  and  patted  into  shape  the 
paper-like  tortillas  with  which  to  eat  the  juicy  frijoles  or  dip  up 
the  tempting  chile  Colorado.  There  were  women  carding,  spin 
ning,  sewing — doing  the  thousand  and  one  duties  of  domestic 
life  in  a  great  ranch,  which  had  its  own  blacksmith,  saddler,  and 


PETE  KITCHEN'S   RANCH.  79 

wagonmaker,  and  all  other  officials  needed  to  keep  the  machinery 
running  smoothly. 

Between  Pete  Kitchen  and  the  Apaches  a  ceaseless  war  was 
waged,  with  the  advantages  not  all  on  the  side  of  Kitchen.  His 
employees  were  killed  and  wounded,  his  stock  driven  away,  his 
pigs  filled  with  arrows,  making  the  suffering  quadrupeds  look  like 
perambulating  pin-cushions — everything  that  could  be  thought 
of  to  drive  him  away ;  but  there  he  stayed,  unconquered  and  un 
conquerable. 

Men  like  Estevan  Ochoa  and  Pete  Kitchen  merit  a  volume  by 
themselves.  Arizona  and  New  Mexico  were  full  of  such  people,  not 
all  as  determined  and  resolute  as  Pete ;  not  all,  nor  nearly  all,  so 
patriotic  and  self-denying  as  Don  Estevan,  but  all  with  histories 
full  of  romance  and  excitement.  Few  of  them  yet  remain,  and 
their  deeds  of  heroism  will  soon  be  forgotten,  or,  worse  luck  yet,. 
some  of  the  people  who  never  dreamed  of  going  down  there  until 
they  could  do  so  in  a  Pullman  car  will  be  setting  themselves  up 
as  heroes,  and  having  their  puny  biographies  written  for  th& 
benefit  of  the  coming  generations. 

Strangest  recollection  of  all  that  I  have  of  those  persons  is  the 
quietness  of  their  manner  and  the  low  tone  in  which  they  usually 
spoke  to  their  neighbors.  They  were  quiet  in  dress,  in  speech, 
and  in  conduct — a  marked  difference  from  the  more  thoroughly 
dramatized  border  characters  of  later  days. 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE     DIVERSIONS     OF    TUCSON — THE    GAMBLING     SALOONS — BOB 
,         CEANDALL     AND     HIS     DIAMOND — "  SLAP-JACK     BILLY  " — 
TIGHT-EOPE     WALKEES  —  THE     THEATEE  —  THE     DTJENAS  — 
BAILES — THE    NEWSPAPEES — STAGE-DEIVEBS. 

IT  has  been  shown  that  Tucson  had  no  hotels.  She  did  not 
need  any  at  the  time  of  which  I  am  writing,  as  her  floating 
population  found  all  the  ease  and  comfort  it  desired  in  the  flare 
and  glare  of  the  gambling  hells,  which  were  bright  with  the 
lustre  of  smoking  oil  lamps  and  gay  with  the  varicolored  raiment 
of  moving  crowds,  and  the  music  of  harp  and  Pan's  pipes.  In 
them  could  be  found  nearly  every  man  in  the  town  at  some 
hour  of  the  day  or  night,  and  many  used  them  as  the  Romans 
did  their  "Thermae" — as  a  place  of  residence. 

All  nationalities,  all  races  were  represented,  and  nearly  all 
conditions  of  life.  There  were  cadaverous-faced  Americans,  and 
Americans  whose  faces  were  plump  ;  men  in  shirt  sleeves,  and 
men  who  wore  their  coats  as  they  would  have  done  in  other  places  ; 
there  were  Mexicans  wrapped  in  the  red,  yellow,  and  black  striped 
cheap  "scrapes,"  smoking  the  inevitable  cigarrito,  made  on  the 
spot  by  rolling  a  pinch  of  tobacco  in  a  piece  of  corn  shuck  ;  and 
there  were  other  Mexicans  more  thoroughly  Americanized,  who 
were  clad  in  the  garb  of  the  people  of  the  North.  Of  Chinese  and 
negroes  there  were  only  a  few — they  had  not  yet  made  acquaint 
ance  to  any  extent  with  that  section  of  our  country ;  but  their 
place  was  occupied  by  civilized  Indians,  Opatas,  Yaquis,  and 
others,  who  had  come  up  with  ".  bull "  teams  and  pack  trains 
from  Sonora.  The  best  of  order  prevailed,  there  being  no  noise 
save  the  hum  of  conversation  or  the  click  of  the  chips  on  the 
different  tables.  Tobacco  smoke  ascended  from  cigarritos,  pipes, 
and  the  vilest  of  cigars,  filling  all  the  rooms  with  the  foulest  of 
odors.  The  bright  light  from  the  lamps  did  not  equal  the  steely 
glint  in  the  eyes  of  the  "bankers,"  who  ceaselessly  and  imper- 


TUCSON'S  GAMBLING  HOUSES.  81 

turbably  dealt  out  the  cards  from  faro  boxes,  or  set  in  motion  the 
balls  in  roulette. 

There  used  to  be  in  great  favor  among  the  Mexicans,  and  the 
Americans,  too,  for  that  matter,  a  modification  of  roulette  called 
"  chusas,"  which  never  failed  to  draw  a  cluster  of  earnest  players, 
who  would  remain  by  the  tables  until  the  first  suggestion  of  day 
light.  High  above  the  squeak  of  Pan's  pipes  or  the  plinkety-plink- 
plunk  of  the  harps  sounded  the  voice  of  the  "  banker  i"  "  Make 
yer  little  bets,  gents  ;  make  yer  little  bets  ;  all's  set,  the  game  's 
made,  V  th/  ball's  a-rollinV  Blue  chips,  red  chips,  white  chips 
would  be  stacked  high  upon  cards  or  numbers,  as  the  case  might 
be,  but  all  eventually  seemed  to  gravitate  into  the  maw  of  the 
bank,  and  when,  for  any  reason,  the  "  game  "  flagged  in  energy, 
there  would  be  a  tap  upon  the  bell  by  the  dealer's  side,  and 
"  drinks  all  round  "  be  ordered  at  the  expense  of  the  house. 

It  was  a  curious  exhibit  of  one  of  the  saddest  passions  of 
human  nature,  and  a  curious  jumble  of  types  which  would  never 
press  against  each  other  elsewhere.  Over  by  the  faro  bank,  in 
the  corner,  stood  Bob  Crandall,  a  faithful  wooer  of  the  fickle 
goddess  Chance.  He  was  one  of  the  handsomest  men  in  the 
Southwest,  and  really  endowed  with  many  fine  qualities  ;  he  had 
drifted  away  from  the  restraints  of  home  life  years  ago,  and  was 
then  in  Tucson  making  such  a  livelihood  as  he  could  pick  up 
as  a  gambler,  wasting  brain  and  attainments  which,  if  better 
applied,  would  have  been  a  credit  to  himself  and  his  country. 

The  beautiful  diamond  glistening  upon  Bob  CrandalFs  breast 
had  a  romantic  history.  I  give  it  as  I  remember  it : 

During  the  months  that  Maximilian  remained  in  Mexico  there 
was  a  French  brigade  stationed  at  the  two  towns  of  Hermosillo 
and  Magdalena,  in  Sonora.  Desertions  were  not  rare,  and,  natu 
rally  enough,  the  fugitives  made  their  way  when  they  could  across 
the  boundary  into  the  United  States/ which  maintained  a  by  no 
means  dubious  attitude  in  regard  to  the  foreign  occupation. 

One  of  these  deserters  approached  Crandall  on  the  street,  and 
asked  him  for  assistance  to  enable  him  to  get  to  San  Francisco. 
He  had  a  stone  which  he  believed  was  of  great  value,  which  was 
part  of  the  plunder  coming  to  him  when  he  and  some  comrades 
had  looted  the  hacienda  of  an  affluent  Mexican  planter.  He  would 
sell  this  for  four  hundred  francs — eighty  dollars. 

Crandall  was  no  judge  of  gems,  but  there  was  something  so 
6 


82  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

brilliant  about  the  bauble  offered  to  him  that  he  closed  the  bargain 
and  paid  over  the  sum  demanded  by  the  stranger,  who  took  his 
departure  and  was  seen  no  more.  Four  or  five  years  afterward 
Crandall  was  making  some  purchases  in  a  jewellery  store  in  San 
Francisco,  when  the  owner,  happening  to  see  the  diamond  he  was 
wearing,  inquired  whether  he  would  be  willing  to  sell  it,  and 
offered  fifteen  hundred  dollars  cash  for  the  gem  which  had  been 
so  lightly  regarded.  Nothing  further  was  ever  learned  of  its 
early  ownership,  and  it  is  likely  enough  that  its  seizure  was  only 
one  incident  among  scores  that  might  be  related  of  the  French 
occupation — not  seizures  by  the  foreigners  altogether,  but  those 
made .  also  by  the  bandits  with  whom  the  western  side  of  the 
republic  swarmed  for  a  time. 

There  was  one  poor  wretch  who  could  always  be  seen  about  the 
tables  ;  he  never  played,  never  talked  to  any  one,  and  seemed  to 
take  no  particular  interest  in  anything  or  anybody.  What  his 
name  was  no  one  knew  or  cared ;  all  treated  him  kindly,  and 
anything  he  wished  for  was  supplied  by  the  charity  or  the  gen 
erosity  of  the  frequenters  of  the  gaming-tables.  He  was  a  trifle 
"  off,"  but  perfectly  harmless  ;  he  had  lost  all  the  brain  he  ever 
had  through  fright  in  an  Apache  ambuscade,  and  had  never 
recovered  his  right  mind.  The  party  to  which  he  belonged  had 
been  attacked  not  far  from  Davidson's  Springs,  but  he  was  one 
of  those  who  had  escaped,  or  at  least  he  thought  he  had  until  he 
heard  the  "  swish"  and  felt  the  pull  of  the  noose  of  a  lariat 
which  a  young  Apache  hiding  behind  a  sage-brush  had  dexterously 
thrown  across  his  shoulders.  The  Mexican  drew  his  ever-ready 
knife,  slashed  the  raw-hide  rope  in  two,  and  away  he  flew  on  the 
road  to  Tucson,  never  ceasing  to  spur  his  mule  until  both  of  them 
arrived,  trembling,  covered  with*  dust  and  lather,  and  scared  out 
of  their  wits,  and  half-dead,  within  sight  of  the  green  cotton- 
woods  on  the  banks  of  the  Santa  Cruz. 

Then  one  was  always  sure  to  meet  men  like  old  Jack  Dunn,  who 
had  wandered  about  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  has  since  done 
such  excellent  work  as  a  scout  against  the  Chiricahua  Apaches. 
I  think  that  Jack  is  living  yet,  but  am  not  certain.  If  he  is,  it 
will  pay  some  enterprising  journalist  to  hunt  him  up  and  get  a 
few  of  his  stories  out  of  him  ;  they'll  make  the  best  kind  of  read 
ing  for  people  who  care  to  hear  of  the  wildest  days  on  the  wildest 
of  frontiers.  And  there  were  others — men  who  have  passed  away, 


GAMBLING  SALOON  MANNERS.  83 

men  like  James  Toole,  one  of  the  first  mayors  of  Tucson,  who 
dropped  in,  much  as  I  myself  did,  to  see  what  was  to  be  seen.  Op 
posed  as  I  am  to  gambling,  no  matter  what  protean  guise  it  may 
assume,  I  should  do  the  gamblers  of  Tucson  the  justice  to  say 
that  they  were  as  progressive  an  element  as  the  town  had.  They 
always  had  plank  floors,  where  every  other  place  was  content  with 
the  bare  earth  rammed  hard,  or  with  the  curious  mixture  of  river 
sand,  bullock's  blood,  and  cactus  juice  which  hardened  like  cement 
and  was  used  by  some  of  the  more  opulent.  But  with  the  excep 
tion  of  the  large  wholesale  firms,  and  there  were  not  over- half  a 
dozen  of  them  all  told,  the  house  of  the  governor,  and  a  few — 
a  very  few — private  residences  of  people  like  the  Carillos,  Sam 
Hughes,  Hiram  Stevens,  and  Aldrich,  who  desired  comfort,  there 
were  no  wooden  floors  to  be  seen  in  that  country. 

The  gaming  establishments  were  also  well  supplied  with  the 
latest  newspapers  from  San  Francisco,  Sacramento,  and  New  York, 
and  to  these  all  who  entered,  whether  they  played  or  not,  were 
heartily  welcome.  Sometimes,  but  not  very  often,  there  would 
be  served  up  about  midnight  a  very  acceptable  lunch  of  "fri- 
joles,"  coffee,  or  chocolate,  " chile  con  came,"  "enchiladas/"  and 
other  dishes,  all  hot  and  savory,  and  all  thoroughly  Mexican. 
The  flare  of  the  lamps  was  undimmed,  the  plinkety-plunk  of 
the  harps  was  unchecked,  and  the  voice  of  the  dealer  was  abroad 
in  the  land  from  the  setting  of  the  sun  until  the  rising  of  the 
same,  and  until  that  tired  luminary  had  again  sunk  to  rest  behind 
the  purple  caps  of  the  Santa  Teresa,  and  had  again  risen  reju 
venated  to  gladden  a  reawakened  earth  with  his  brightest  beams. 
Sunday  or  Monday,  night  or  day,  it  made  no  difference — the 
game  went  on  ;  one  dealer  taking  the  place  of  another  with  the 
regularity,  the  precision,  and  the  stolidity  of  a  sentinel. 

"  Isn't  it  ra-a-a-ther  late  for  you  to  be  open  ?"  asked  the  tender 
foot  arrival  from  the  East,  as  he  descended  from  the  El  Paso  stage 
about  four  o'clock  one  morning,  and  dragged  himself  to  the  bar 
to  get  something  to  wash  the  dust  out  of  his  throat. 

"  Wa-a-al,  it  is  kinder  late  fur  th'  night  afore  last,"  genially 
replied  the  bartender  ;  "  but  's  jest  'n  th'  shank  o*  th*  evenin'  fur 
t'-night." 

It  was  often  a  matter  of  astonishment  to  me  that  there  were  so 
few  troubles  and  rows  in  the  gambling  establishments  of  Tucson. 
They  did  occur  from  time  to  time,  just  as  they  might  happen  any- 


84          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

where  else,  but  not  with  sufficient  frequency  to  make  a  feature  of 
the  life  of  the  place. 

Once  what  threatened  to  open  up  as  a  most  serious  affair  had 
a  very  ridiculous  termination.  A  wild-eyed  youth,  thoroughly 
saturated  with  "sheep-herder's  delight"  and  other  choice  vin 
tages  of  the  country,  made  his  appearance  in  the  bar  of  ' ( Congress 
Hall,"  and  announcing  himself  as  "  Slap-Jack  Billy,  the  Pride  of 
the  Pan -handle,"  went  on  to  inform  a  doubting  world  that  he 
oould  whip  his  weight  in  "  b'ar-meat" — 

"  Fur  ber-lud's  inee  color, 
I  kerries  mee  corfin  on  mee  back, 
'N'  th'  hummin'  o'  pistol-balls,  bee  jingo, 
Is  me-e-e-u-u-sic  in  mee  ears."     (Blank,  blank,  blank.) 

Thump  !  sounded  the  brawny  fist  of  "  Shorty  "  Henderson, 
and  down  went  Ajax  struck  by  the  offended  lightning.  When 
he  came  to,  the  "Pride  of  the  Pan-handle  "  had  something  of  a 
job  in  rubbing  down  the  lump  about  as  big  as  a  goose-egg  which 
had  suddenly  and  spontaneously  grown  under  his  left  jaw  ;  but 
he  bore  no  malice  and  so  expressed  himself. 

"  Podners  (blank,  blank,  blank),  this  Cere's  the  most  sociablest 
crowd  I  ever  struck  ;  let's  all  hev  a  drink." 

If  the  reader  do  not  care  for  such  scenes,  he  can  find  others 
perhaps  more  to  his  liking  in  the  various  amusements  which, 
under  one  pretext  or  another,  extracted  all  the  loose  change  of 
the  town.  The  first,  in  popular  estimation,  were  the  "  maromas," 
or  tight-rope  walkers  and  general  acrobats,  who  performed  many 
feats  well  deserving  of  the  praise  lavished  upon  them  by  the  audi 
ence.  Ever  since  the  days  of  Cortes  the  Mexicans  have  been 
noted  for  gymnastic  dexterity ;  it  is  a  matter  of  history  that 
Cortes,  upon  returning  to  Europe,  took  with  him  several  of  the 
artists  in  this  line,  whose  agility  and  cunning  surprised  those 
who  saw  them  perform  in  Spain  and  Italy. 

There  were  trained  dogs  and  men  who  knew  how  to  make  a 
barrel  roll  up  or  down  an  inclined  plane.  All  these  received  a 
due  share  of  the  homage  of  their  fellow-citizens,  but  nothing  to 
compare  to  the  enthusiasm  which  greeted  the  advent  of  the  gen 
uine  "teatro."  That  was  the  time  when  all  Tucson  turned  out 
to  do  honor  to  the  wearers  of  the  buskin.  If  there  was  a  man, 
woman,  or  child  in  the  old  pueblo  who  wasn't  seated  on  one  of 


"ELENA  Y  JORGE."  85 

the  cottonwood  saplings  which,  braced  upon  other  saplings,  did 
duty  as  benches  in  the  corral  near  the  quartermaster's,  it  was 
because  that  man,  woman,  or  child  was  sick,  or  in  jail.  It  is 
astonishing  how  much  enjoyment  can  be  gotten  out  of  life  when 
people  set  about  the  task  in  dead  earnest. 

There  were  gross  violations  of  all  the  possibilities,  of  all  the 
congruities,  of  all  the  unities  in  the  play,  "Elena  y  Jorge," 
presented  to  an  appreciative  public  the  first  evening  I  saw  the 
Mexican  strolling  heavy-tragedy  company  in  its  glory.  But  what 
cared  we  ?  The  scene  was  lighted  by  bon-fires,  by  great  torches 
of  wood,  and  by  the  row  of  smoking  foot-lights  running  along 
the  front  of  the  little  stage. 

The  admission  was  regulated  according  to  a  peculiar  plan  : 
for  Mexicans  it  was  fifty  cents,  but  for  Americans,  one  dollar, 
because  the  Americans  had  more  money.  Another  unique  feat 
ure  was  the  concentration  of  all  the  small  boys  in  the  first  row, 
closest  to  the  actors,  and  the  clowns  who  were  constantly  running 
about,  falling  head  over  heels  over  the  youngsters,  and  in  other 
ways  managing  to  keep  the  audience  in  the  best  of  humor  during 
the  rather  long  intervals  between  the  acts. 

The  old  ladies  who  sat  bunched  up  on  the  seats  a  little  farther 
in  rear  seemed  to  be  more  deeply  moved  by  the  trials  of  the  hero 
ine  than  the  men  or  boys,  who  continued  placidly  to  puff  cigar 
ettes  or  munch  sweet  quinces,  as  their  ages  and  tastes  dictated. 
It  was  a  most  harrowing,  sanguinary  play.  The  plot  needs  very 
few  words.  Elena,  young,  beautiful,  rich,  patriotic  ;  old  uncle, 
miser,  traitor,  mercenary,  anxious  to  sell  lovely  heiress  to  French 
officer  for  gold ;  French  officer,  coward,  liar,  poltroon,  steeped 
in  every  crime  known  to  man,  anxious  to  wed  lovely  heiress  for 
her  money  alone  ;  Jorge,  young,  beautiful,  brave,  conscientious, 
an  expert  in  the  art  of  war,  in  love  with  heiress  for  her  own 
sweet  sake,  but  kept  from  her  side  by  the  wicked  uncle  and 
his  own  desire  to  drive  the  last  cursed  despot  from  the  fair  land 
of  his  fathers. 

(Dirge,  by  the  orchestra  ;  cries  of  "  Muere  !"  (i.e.,  May  he  die  ! 
or,  Let  him  die  !)  from  the  semi-circle  of  boys,  who  ceased  work 
upon  their  quinces  "  for  this  occasion  only.") 

I  despised  that  French  officer,  and  couldn't  for  the  life  of 
me  understand  how  any  nation,  no  matter  how  depraved,  could 
afford  to  keep  such  a  creature  upon  its  military  rolls.  I  don't 


86  ON  THE  BORDER   WITH  CROOK. 

think  I  ever  heard  any  one  utter  in  the  same  space  of  time  more 
thoroughly  villainous  sentiments  than  did  that  man,  and  I  was 
compelled,  as  a  matter  of  principle,  to  join  with  the  "mucha- 
chos ''  in  their  chorus  of  "  Muere  !" 

As  for  Dona  Elena,  the  way  she  let  that  miserable  old  uncle 
see  that  his  schemes  were  understood,  and  that  never,  never, 
would  she  consent  to  become  the  bride  of  a  traitor  and  an  invader, 
was  enough  to  make  Sarah  Bern  hard  t  turn  green  with  envy. 

And  Jorge — well,  Jorge  was  not  idle.  There  he  was  all  the 
time,  concealed  behind  a  barrel  or  some  other  very  inadequate 
cover,  listening  to  every  word  uttered  by  the  wicked  old  uncle, 
the  mercenary  French  officer,  and  the  dauntless  Helen.  He 
was  continually  on  the  go,  jumping  out  from  his  concealment, 
taking  the  hand  of  his  adored  one,  telling  her  his  love,  but 
always  interrupted  by  the  sudden  return  of  the  avuncular  villain 
or  the  foe  of  his  bleeding  country.  It  is  all  over  at  last ;  the 
curtain  rings  down,  and  the  baffled  Gaul  has  been  put  to  flight ; 
the  guards  are  dragging  the  wretched  uncle  off  to  the  calaboose, 
and  Jorge  and  his  best  girl  entwine  themselves  in  each  other's 
arms  amid  thunders  of  applause. 

Then  the  payazo,  or  clown,  comes  to  the  front,  waving  the  red, 
white,  and  green  colors  of  the  Mexican  republic,  and  chanting  a 
song  in  which  the  doings  of  the  invaders  are  held  up  to  obloquy 
and  derision. 

Everybody  would  be  very  hungry  by  this  time,  and  the  old 
crones  who  made  a  living  by  selling  hot  suppers  to  theatre-goers 
reaped  their  harvest.  The  wrinkled  dames  whose  faces  had  been 
all  tears  only  a  moment  ago  over  the  woes  of  Elena  were  calm, 
happy,  and  voracious.  Plate  after  plate  of  steaming  hot  "en 
chiladas  "  would  disappear  down  their  throats,  washed  down  by 
cups  of  boiling  coffee  or  chocolate  ;  or  perhaps  appetite  demanded 
"  tamales"  and  "  tortillas,"  with  plates  of  "frijoles  "  and  "  chile 
con  carne." 

"Enchiladas"  and  "tamales"  are  dishes  of  Aztec  origin, 
much  in  vogue  on  the  south  side  of  the  Rio  Grande  and  Gila. 
The  former  may  be  described  as  corn  batter  cakes,  dipped  in  a 
stew  of  red  chile,  with  tomato,  cheese,  and  onions  chopped  fine. 

"  Tamales  "  are  chopped  meat — beef,  pork,  or  chicken,  or  a 
mixture  of  all  three — combined  with  corn-meal  and  rolled  up  in 
husks  and  boiled  or  baked.  Practically,  they  are  croquettes. 


THE  DUENAS. 


87 


These  dishes  are  delicious,  and  merit  an  introduction  to  Amer 
ican  tables.  No  one  can  deny  that  when  a  Mexican  agrees  to 
furnish  a  hot  supper,  the  hot  supper  will  be  forthcoming.  What 
caloric  cannot  be  supplied  by  fuel  is  derived  from  chile,  red 
pepper,  with  white  pepper,  green,  and  a  trifle  of  black,  merely  to 
show  that  the  cook  has  no  prejudices  on  account  of  color. 

The  banquet  may  not  have  been  any  too  grand,  out  in  the  open 
air,  but  the  gratitude  of  the  bright-eyed,  sweet-voiced  young  sefio- 
ritas  who  shared  it  made  it  taste  delicious.  Tucson  etiquette  in 
some  things  was  ridiculously  strict,  and  the  occasions  when  young 
ladies  could  go,  even  in  parties,  with  representatives  of  the  oppo 
site  sex  were  few  and  far  between — and  all  the  more  appreciated 
when  they  did  come. 

If  ever  there  was  created  a  disagreeable  feature  upon  the  fair 
face  of  nature,  it  was  the  Spanish  duefia.  All  that  were  to  be  met 
in  those  days  in  southern  Arizona  seemed  to  be  possessed  of  an 
unaccountable  aversion  to  the  mounted  service.  No  flattery  would 
put  them  in  good  humor,  no  cajolery  would  blind  them,  intimi 
dation  was  thrown  away.  There  they  would  sit,  keeping  strict, 
dragon-like  watch  over  the  dear  little  creatures  who  responded 
to  the  names  of  Anita,  Victoria,  Concepcion,  Guadalupe,  or  Mer 
cedes,  and  preventing  conversation  upon  any  subject  excepting 
the  weather,  in  which  we  became  so  expert  that  it  is  a  wonder 
the  science  of  meteorology  hasn't  made  greater  advances  than  it 
has  during  the  past  two  decades. 

The  bull  fight  did  not  get  farther  west  than  El  Paso.  Tucson 
never  had  one  that  I  have  heard  of,  and  very  little  in  the  way  of 
out-door  "  sport "  beyond  chicken  fights,  which  were  often  savage 
and  bloody.  The  rapture  with  which  the  feminine  heart  wel 
comed  the  news  that  a  "  baile  "  was  to  be  given  in  Tucson  equalled 
the  pleasure  of  the  ladies  of  Murray  Hill  or  Beacon  Street  upon 
the  corresponding  occasions  in  their  localities.  To  be  sure,  the 
ceremony  of  the  Tucson  affairs  was  of  the  meagrest.  The  rooms 
were  wanting  in  splendor,  perhaps  in  comfort — but  the  music  was 
on  hand,  and  so  were  the  ladies,  young  and  old,  and  their  cava 
liers,  and  all  hands  would  manage  to  have  the  best  sort  of  a  time. 
The  ball-room  was  one  long  apartment,  with  earthen  floor,  hav 
ing  around  its  sides  low  benches,  and  upon  its  walls  a  few  cheap 
mirrors  and  half  a  dozen  candles  stuck  to  the  adobe  by  melted 
tallow,  a  bit  of  moist  clay,  or  else  held  in  tin  sconces,  from  which 


88  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

they  emitted  the  sickliest  light  upon  the  heads  and  forms  of  the 
highly  colored  saints  whose  pictures  were  to  be  seen  in  the  most 
eligible  places.  If  the  weather  happened  to  be  chilly  enough  in 
the  winter  season,  a  petty  fire  would  be  allowed  to  blaze  in  one  of 
the  corners,  but,  as  a  general  thing,  this  was  not  essential. 

The  summer  climate  of  Tucson  is  sultry,  and  the  heat  will  often 
run  up  as  high  as  120°  Fahr. ;  the  fall  months  are  dangerous 
from  malaria,  and  the  springs  disagreeable  from  sand  storms,  but 
the  winters  are  incomparable.  Neither  Italy  nor  Spain  can  com 
pare  with  southern  Arizona  in  balminess  of  winter  climate,  and 
I  know  of  no  place  in  the  whole  world  superior  to  Tucson  as  a 
sanitarium  for  nervous  and  pulmonary  diseases,  from  November 
to  March,  when  the  patient  can  avoid  the  malaria-breeding  fall 
months  and  the  disagreeable  sand  storms  of  the  early  spring. 

The  nights  in  Tucson  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year  are 
so  cool  that  blankets  are  agreeable  covering  for  sleepers.  There 
are  times  in  Tucson,  as  during  the  summer  of  1870,  when  for 
more  than  a  week  the  thermometer  never  indicates  lower  than 
98°  by  day  or  night.  And  there  are  localities,  like  forts  or  camps 
—as  they  were  then  styled — Grant,  MacDowell,  Mojave,  Yuma, 
Beale's  Springs,  Verde,  and  Date  Creek,  where  this  rule  of  ex 
cessive  and  prolonged  heat  never  seemed  to  break.  The  winter 
nights  of  Tucson  are  cold  and  bracing,  but  it  is  a  dry  cold,  with 
out  the  slightest  suggestion  of  humidity,  and  rarely  does  the  tem 
perature  fall  much  below  the  freezing-point. 

The  moment  you  passed  the  threshold  of  the  ball-room  in 
Tucson  you  had  broken  over  your  head  an  egg-shell  filled  either 
with  cologne  of  the  most  dubious  reputation  or  else  with  finely 
cut  gold  and  silver  paper.  This  custom,  preserved  in  this  out-of- 
the-way  place,  dates  back  to  the  "  Carnestolends "  or  Sbrove- 
Tuesday  pranks  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  when  the  egg  was  really 
broken  over  the  head  of  the  unfortunate  wight  and  the  pasty 
mass  covered  over  with  flour. 

Once  within  the  ball-room  there  was  no  need  of  being  pre 
sented  to  any  one.  The  etiquette  of  the  Spaniards  is  very  elastic, 
and  is  based  upon  common  sense.  Every  man  who  is  good  enough 
to  be  invited  to  enter  the  house  of  a  Mexican  gentleman  is  good 
enough  to  enter  into  conversation  with  all  the  company  he  may 
meet  there. 

Our  American   etiquette  is  based  upon  the  etiquette  of  the 


A  TUCSON   "BAILE."  89 

English.  Ever  since  King  James,  the  mild-mannered  lunatic, 
sold  his  orders  of  nobility  to  any  cad  who  possessed  the  neces 
sary  six  thousand  pounds  to  pay  for  an  entrance  into  good 
society,  the  aristocracy  of  England  has  been  going  dow,n-hill,  and 
what  passes  with  it  for  manners  is  the  code  of  the  promoted  plu 
tocrat,  whose  ideas  would  find  no  place  with  the  Spaniards,  who 
believe  in  "  sang  re  azul"  or  nothing.  There  was  very  little 
conversation  between  the  ladies  and  the  gentlemen,  because  the 
ladies  preferred  to  cluster  together  and  discuss  the  neighbors  who 
hadn't  been  able  to  come,  or  explain  the  details  of  dresses  just 
made  or  to  be  made. 

Gentlemen  invited  whom  they  pleased  to  dance,  and  in  the 
intervals  between  the  figures  there  might  be  some  very  weak 
attempt  at  conversation,  but  that  was  all,  except  the  marching  of 
the  gentle  female  up  to  the  counter  and  buying  her  a  handker 
chief  full  of  raisins  or  candies,  which  she  carefully  wrapped  up 
and  carried  home  with  her,  in  accordance  with  a  custom  which 
obtained  among  the  Aztecs  and  also  among  their  Spanish  con 
querors,  and  really  had  a  strong  foothold  in  good  old  England  it 
self,  from  which  latter  island  it  did  not  disappear  until  A.D.  1765. 

While  the  language  of  conversation  was  entirely  Spanish,  the 
figures  were  called  off  in  English,  or  what  passed  for  English  in 
those  days  in  Arizona  :  "  Ally  man  let  V  all  shassay  ; "  "  Bal'nee 
t'  yer  podners  'n'  all  han's  roun';  "  ' '  Dozydozy-chaat  'n?  swing." 

What  lovely  times  we  used  to  have  !  What  enchanting  music 
from  the  Pan's  pipes,  the  flute,  the  harp,  the  bass-drum,  and  the 
bull-fiddle  all  going  at  once  !  How  lovely  the  young  ladies  were  ! 
How  bright  the  rooms  were  with  their  greasy  lamps  or  their  can 
dles  flickering  from  the  walls  !  It  can  hardly  be  possible  that 
twenty  years  and  more  have  passed  away,  yet  there  are  the  figures 
in  the  almanac  which  cannot  lie. 

After  the  "baile"  was  over,  the  rule  was  for  the  younger  par 
ticipants  to  take,  the  music  and  march  along  the  streets  to  the 
houses  of  the  young  ladies  who  had  been  prevented  from  attend 
ing,  and  there,  under  the  window,  or,  rather,  in  front  of  the  win 
dow — because  all  the  houses  were  of  one  story,  and  a  man  could 
not  get  under  the  windows  unless  he  crawled  on  hands  and  knees 
— pour  forth  their  souls  in  a  serenade. 

The  Spanish  serenader,  to  judge  him  by  his  songs,  is  a  curious 
blending  of  woe  and  despair,  paying  court  to  a  damsel  whose 


90  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

heart  is  colder  than  the  crystalline  ice  that  forms  in  the  mount 
ains.  The  worst  of  it  all  is,  the  young  woman,  whose  charms  of 
person  are  equalled  by  the  charms  of  her  mind,  does  not  seem  to 
care  a  rushfwhat  becomes  of  the  despairing  songster,  who  threat 
ens  to  go  away  forever,  to  sail  on  unknown  seas,  to  face  the 
nameless  perils  of  the  desert,  if  his  suit  be  not  at  once  recognized 
by  at  least  one  frosty  smile.  But  at  the  first  indication  of  relent 
ing  on  the  part  of  the  adored  one,  the  suitor  suddenly  recollects 
that  he  cannot  possibly  stand  the  fervor  of  her  glance,  which 
rivals  the  splendor  of  the  sun,  and,  accordingly,  he  begs  her  not 
to  look  upon  him  with  those  beautiful  orbs,  as  he  has  concluded 
to  depart  forever  and  sing  his  woes  in  distant  lands.  Having 
discharged  this  sad  duty  at  the  windows  of  Dona  Anita  Fulana, 
the  serenaders  solemnly  progress  to  the  lattice  of  Dona  Mercedes 
de  Zutana,  and  there  repeat  the  same  heart-rending  tale  of  disap 
pointed  affection. 

It  was  always  the  same  round  of  music,  taken  in  the  same 
series — "La  Paloma,"  "G-olondrina,"  and  the  rest.  I  made  a 
collection  of  some  twenty  of  these  ditties  or  madrigals,  and  was 
impressed  with  the  poetic  fervor  and  the  absolute  lack  of  com 
mon  sense  shown  in  them  all,  which  is  the  best  evidence  that  as 
love  songs  they  will  bear  comparison  with  any  that  have  ever  been 
written.  The  music  in  many  cases  was  excellent,  although  the 
execution  was  with  very  primitive  instruments.  I  do  not 
remember  a  single  instance  where  the  fair  one  made  the  least 
sign  of  approval  or  pleasure  on  account  of  such  serenades,  and 
I  suppose  that  the  Mexican  idea  is  that  she  should  not,  because 
if  there  is  a  polite  creature  in  the  world  it  is  the  Mexican  woman, 
no  matter  of  what  degree. 

The  most  tender  strains  evoked  no  response,  and  the  young 
man,  or  men,  as  the  case  might  be,  could  have  held  on  until 
morning  and  sung  himself  or  themselves  into  pneumonia  for  all 
the  young  lady  seemed  to  care. 

"  No  me  mires  con  esos  fcus  ojos, 

(Fluke-fluky-fluke  ;  plink,  planky-plink.) 
"  Mas  hermosos  que  el  sol  en  el  cielo, 

(Plinky-plink  ;  plinky-plink.) 
"  Que  me  mires  de  dicha  y  consuelo. 

(Fluky-fluky-fluke  ;  plink-plink.) 
"  Que  me  mata  !  que  me  mata  !  tu  mirar." 

(Plinky-plink,  fluky -fluke  ;  plinky-plink  ;  fluke-fluke.) 


EARLY   TUCSON  CUSTOMS.  91 

But  it  is  morning  now,  and  the  bells  are  clanging  for  first  mass, 
and  we  had  better  home  and  to  bed.  Did  we  so  desire  we  could 
enter  the  church,  but  as  there  is  much  to  be  said  in  regard  to 
the  different  feasts,  which  occurred  at  different  seasons  and 
most  acceptably  divided  the  year,  we  can  leave  that  duty 
unfulfilled  for  the  present  and  give  a  few  brief  sentences  to  the 
christenings  and  funerals,  which  were  celebrated  under  our  obser 
vation. 

The  Mexicans  used  to  attach  a  great  deal  of  importance  to  the 
naming  of  their  children,  and  when  the  day  for  the  christening 
had  arrived,  invitations  scattered  far  and  near  brought  together 
all  the  relatives  and  friends  of  the  family,  who  most  lavishly 
eulogized  the  youngster,  and  then  partook  of  a  hearty  collation, 
which  was  the  main  feature  of  the  entertainment. 

Funerals,  especially  of  children,  were  generally  without  cof 
fins,  owing  to  the  great  scarcity  of  lumber,  and  nearly  always 
with  music  at  the  head  of  the  procession,  which  slowly  wended 
its  way  to  the  church  to  the  measure  of  plaintive  melody. 

Birthdays  were  not  observed,  but  in  their  stead  were  kept  the 
days  of  the  saints  of  the  same  name.  For  example,  all  the  young 
girls  named  Anita  would  observe  Saint  Ann's  day,  without  regard 
to  the  date  of  their  own  birth,  and  so  with  the  G-uadalupes  and 
Francescas  and  others. 

I  should  not  omit  to  state  that  there  were  whole  blocks  of 
houses  in  Tucson  which  did  not  have  a  single  nail  in  them,  but 
had  been  constructed  entirely  of  adobes,  with  all  parts  of  the 
wooden  framework  held  together  by  strips  of  raw-hide. 

Yet  in  these  comfortless  abodes,  which  did  not  possess  ten  dol 
lars'  worth  of  furniture,  one  met  with  charming  courtesy  from 
old  and  young.  "Ah  !  happy  the  eyes  that  gaze  upon  thee,"  was 
the  form  of  salutation  to  friends  who  had  been  absent  for  a  space 
— "  Dichosos  los  ojos  que  ven  a  V."  "  Go  thou  with  God,"  was 
the  gentle  mode  of  saying  farewell,  to  which  the  American  guest 
would  respond,  as  he  shifted  the  revolvers  on  his  hip  and  adjusted 
the  quid  of  tobacco  in  his  mouth  :  "  Wa-al,  I  reckon  111  git." 
But  the  Mexican  would  arrange  the  folds  of  his  serape,  bow  most 
politely,  and  say  :  "Ladies,  I  throw  myself  at  your  feet" — "A 
los  pies  de  W.,  senoritas." 

Thus  far  there  has  been  no  mention  of  that  great  lever  of  pub 
lic  opinion — the  newspaper.  There  was  one  of  which  I  will  now 


92  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

say  a  word,  and  a  few  months  later,  in  the  spring  of  1870,  the 
town  saw  a  second  established,  of  which  a  word  shall  be  said  in 
its  turn.  The  Weekly  Arizonian  was  a  great  public  journal,  an 
organ  of  public  opinion,  managed  by  Mr.  P.  W.  Booner,  a  very 
able  editor. 

It  was  the  custom  in  those  days  to  order  the  acts  and  resolu 
tions  of  Congress  to  be  published  in  the  press  of  the  remoter 
Territories,  thus  enabling  the  settlers  on  the  frontier  to  keep 
abreast  of  legislation,  especially  such  as  more  immediately  af 
fected  their  interests.  Ordinarily  the  management  of  the  paper 
went  no  farther  than  the  supervision  of  the  publication  of  such 
acts,  bills,  etc.;  and  the  amount  of  outside  information  finding 
an  outlet  in  the  scattered  settlements  of  Arizona  and  New  Mexico 
was  extremely  small,  and  by  no  means  recent.  With  a  few  excep 
tions,  all  the  journals  of  those  days  were  printed  either  in  Span 
ish  alone,  or  half  in  Spanish  and  half  in  English,  the  exceptions 
being  sheets  like  the  Miner,  of  Prescott,  Arizona,  which  from 
the  outset  maintained  the  principle  that  our  southwestern  terri 
tories  should  be  thoroughly  Americanized,  and  that  by  no  surer 
method  could  this  be  effected  than  by  a  thoroughly  American 
press.  Mr.  John  H.  Marion  was  the  enunciator  of  this  seemingly 
simple  and  common-sense  proposition,  and  although  the  Miner 
has  long  since  passed  into  other  hands,  he  has,  in  the  columns  of 
the  Courier,  owned  and  edited  by  him,  advocated  and  cham 
pioned  it  to  the  present  day. 

There  may  have  been  other  matter  in  the  Weekly  Arizonian 
besides  the  copies  of  legislative  and  executive  documents  referred 
to,  but  if  so  I  never  was  fortunate  enough  to  see  it,  excepting 
possibly  once,  on  the  occasion  of  my  first  visit  to  the  town,  when 
I  saw  announced  in  bold  black  and  white  that  "  Colonel "  Bourke 
was  paying  a  brief  visit  to  his  friend,  Sefior  So-and-so.  If  there 
is  one  weak  spot  in  the  armor  of  a  recently-graduated  lieutenant, 
it  is  the  desire  to  be  called  colonel  before  he  dies,  and  here  was 
the  ambition  of  my  youth  gratified  almost  before  the  first  lustre 
had  faded  from  my  shoulder-straps.  It  would  serve  no  good  pur 
pose  to  tell  how  many  hundred  copies  of  that  week's  issue  found 
their  way  into  the  earliest  outgoing  mail,  addressed  to  friends 
back  in  the  States.  I  may  be  pardoned  for  alluding  to  the 
reckless  profanity  of  the  stage-driver  upon  observing  the  great 
bulk  of  the  load  his  poor  horses  were  to  carry.  The  stage- 


A  TYPICAL  STAGE-DRIVER.  93 

drivers  were  an  exceptionally  profane  set,  and  this  one,  Frank 
Francis,  was  an  adept  in  the  business.  He  has  long  since  gone 
to  his  reward  in  the  skies,  killed,  if  I  have  not  made  a  great 
mistake,  by  the  Apaches  in  Sonora,  in  1881.  He  was  a  good, 
" square"  man,  as  I  can  aver  from  an  acquaintance  and  friend 
ship  cemented  in  later  days,  when  I  had  to  take  many  and  many 
a  lonesome  and  dangerous  ride  with  him  in  various  sections  and 
on  various  routes  in  that  then  savage-infested  region.  It  was 
Frank's  boast  that  no  "Injuns"  should  ever  get  either  him  or 
the  mail  under  his  care.  "All  you've  got  to  do  with  'n  Injun  's 
to  be  smarter  nor  he  is.  Now,  f  r  instance,  'n  Injun  "11  allers  lie 
in  wait  Alongside  the  road,  tryin'  to  ketch  th'  mail.  Wa'al,  I  never 
don'  go  'long  no  derned  road,  savey  ?  I  jest  cut  right  'cross  lots, 
V  dern  my  skin  ef  all  th'  Injuns  this  side  o'  Bitter  Creek  kin  tell 
whar  to  lay  fur  me."  This  and  similar  bits  of  wisdom  often 
served  to  soothe  the  frightened  fancy  of  the  weary  "tenderfoot" 
making  his  first  trip  into  that  wild  region,  especially  if  the  trip 
was  to  be  by  night,  as  it  generally  was. 

Whipping  up  his  team,  Frank  would  take  a  shoot  off  to  one  side 
or  the  other  of  the  road,  and  never  return  to  it  until  the  faint 
tinge  of  light  in  the  east,  or  the  gladsome  crow  of  chanticleer 
announced  that  the  dawn  was  at  hand  and  Tucson  in  sight. 
How  long  they  had  both  been  in  coming  !  How  the  chilling 
air  of  night  had  depressed  the  spirits  and  lengthened  the  hours 
into  eternities  !  How  grand  the  sky  was  with  its  masses  of  worlds 
peeping  out  from  depths  of  blue,  unsounded  by  the  telescopes  of 
less  favored  climes  !  How  often,  as  the  stars  rose  behind  some 
distant  hill-top,  did  they  appear  to  the  fancy  as  the  signal  lights 
of  distant  Apache  raiding  parties,  and  freeze  the  blood,  already 
coagulated,  by  suddenly  coming  upon  the  gaunt,  blackened  frame 
of  some  dead  giant  cactus  stretching  out  its  warning  arms  behind 
a  sharp  turn  in  the  line  of  travel ! 

To  this  feeling  of  disquietude  the  yelping  of  the  coyote  added 
no  new  horrors  ;  the  nervous  system  was  already  strained  to  its 
utmost  tension,  and  any  and  all  sounds  not  immediately  along 
the  trail  were  a  pleasant  relief.  They  gave  something  of  which  to 
think  and  a  little  of  which  to  talk  besides  the  ever-present  topic 
of  "  Injuns,  Injuns."  But  far  different  was  the  sensation  as  the 
morning  drew  near,  and  fluttering  coveys  of  quail  rose  with  a 
whirr  from  their  concealment  under  the  mesquite,  or  pink-eared 


94  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

jack-rabbits  scurried  from  under  the  horses'  feet.  Then  it  was 
that  driver  and  passenger  alike,  scared  from  a  fretful  doze,  would 
nervously  grasp  the  ever-ready  rifle  or  revolver,  and  look  in  vain 
for  the  flight  of  arrows  or  await  the  lance-thrust  of  skulking  foes. 

Through  it  all,  however,  Frank  remained  the  same  kind,  enter 
taining  host;  he  always  seemed  to  consider  it  part  of  his  duties 
to  entertain  each  one  who  travelled  with  him,  and  there  was  no 
lack  of  conversation,  such  as  it  was.  "Never  knowed  Six-toed 
Petey  Donaldson  ?  Wa'al,  I  sw'ar  !  Look  like  enough  to  be 
Petey's  own  brother.  Thought  mebbe  you  mout  V  bin  comin'  out 
ter  administer  on  th'  estate.  Not  thet  Petey  hed  enny  t'  leave,  but 
then  it's  kind  o'  consolin'  t'  a  feller  to  know  thet  his  relatives  hev 
come  out  ter  see  about  him.  How  did  Petey  die  ?  Injuns.  Th' 
Apaches  got  him  jest  this  side  o'  the  Senneky  (Cienaga)  ;  we'll 
see  it  jest  's  soon  's  we  rise  th'  hill  yander."  By  the  time  that 
the  buckboard  drew  up  in  front  of  the  post-office,  what  with  cold 
and  hunger  and  thirst  and  terror,  and  bumping  over  rocks  and 
against  giant  cactus,  and  every  other  kind  of  cactus,  and  having 
had  one  or  two  runaways  when  the  animals  had  struck  against 
the  adhering  thorns  of  the  pestiferous  (e  cholla,"  the  traveller  was 
always  in  a  suitable  frame  of  mind  to  invite  Frank  to  "  take 
suthin',"  and  Frank  was  too  much  of  a  gentleman  to  think  of 
refusing. 

"  Now,  lemme  give  yer  good  advice,  podner,"  Frank  would 
say  in  his  most  gracious  way,  "  'n'  doan't  drink  none  o'  this  yere 
'Merican  whiskey  ;  it 's  no  good.  Jes'  stick  to  mescal;  that 's  the 
stuff.  Yer  see,  the  alkali  water  'n'  sand  hereabouts  '11  combine 
with  mescal,  but  they  p'isens  a  man  when  he  tries  to  mix  'em 
with  whiskey,  'specially  this  yere  Kansas  whiskey"  (the  "tender 
foot"  had  most  likely  just  come  over  from  Kansas);  "  'n'  ef  he 
doan'  get  killed  deader  nor  a  door-nail,  why,  his  system's  all 
chock  full  o'  p'isen,  'n'  there  you  are." 

The  establishment  of  the  rival  paper,  the  Citizen,  was  the 
signal' for  a  war  of  words,  waxing  in  bitterness  from  week  to 
week,  and  ceasing  only  with  the  death  of  the  Arizonian,  which 
took  place  not  long  after.  One  of  the  editors  of  the  Citizen  was 
Joe  Wasson,  a  very  capable  journalist,  with  whom  I  was  after 
ward  associated  intimately  in  the  Black  Hills  and  Yellowstone 
country  during  the  troubles  with  the  Sioux  and  Cheyennes.  He 
was  a  well-informed  man,  who  had  travelled  much  and  seen  life 


TUCSON  ENTERPRISE.  95 

in  many  phases.  He  was  conscientious  in  his  ideas  of  duty,  and 
full  of  the  energy  and  "snap"  supposed  to  be  typically  Ameri 
can.  He  approached  every  duty  with  the  alertness  and  earnest 
ness  of  a  Scotch  terrier.  The  telegraph  was  still  unknown  to 
Arizona,  and  for  that  reason  the  Citizen  contained  an  unusually 
large  amount  of  editorial  matter  upon  affairs  purely  local.  Al 
most  the  very  first  columns  of  the  paper  demanded  the  sweeping 
away  of  garbage-piles,  the  lighting  of  the  streets  by  night,  the 
establishment  of  schools,  and  the  imposition  of  a  tax  upon  the 
gin-mills  and  gambling-saloons. 

Devout  Mexicans  crossed  themselves  as  they  passed  this  fanatic, 
whom  nothing  would  seem  to  satisfy  but  the  subversion  of  every 
ancient  institution.  Even  the  more  progressive  among  the 
Americans  realized  that  Joe  was  going  a  trifle  too  far,  and  felt 
that  it  was  time  to  put  the  brakes  upon  a  visionary  theorist  whose 
war-cry  was  * '  Reform  !  "  But  no  remonstrance  availed,  and  edito 
rial  succeeded  editorial,  each  more  pungent  and  aggressive  than 
its  predecessors.  What  was  that  dead  burro  doing  on  the  main 
street  ?  Why  did  not  the  town  authorities  remove  it  ? 

"  Valgame  !  What  is  the  matter  with  the  man  ?  and  why  does 
he  make  such  a  fuss  over  Pablo  Martinez's  dead  burro,  which  has 
been  there  for  more  than  two  months  and  nobody  bothering  about 
it  ?  Why,  it  was  only  last  week  that  Ramon  Romualdo  and  I 
jWere  talking  about  it,  and  we  both  agreed  that  it  ought  to  be 
removed  some  time  very  soon.  Bah  !  I  will  light  another  cigar 
ette.  These  Americans  make  me  sick — always  in  a  hurry,  as  if 
the  devil  were  after  them." 

In  the  face  of  such  antagonism  as  this  the  feeble  light  of  the 
Arizonian  flickered  out,  and  that  great  luminary  was,  after  the 
lapse  of  a  few  years,  succeeded  by  the  Star,  whose  editor  and 
owner  arrived  in  the  Territory  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1873, 
after  the  Apaches  had  been  subdued  and  placed  upon  reserva 
tions. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

TUCSON  INCIDENTS — THE  "  FIESTAS  " — THE  RUINED  MISSION 
CHURCH  OF  SAN  XAVIER  DEL  BAG — GOVERNOR  SAFFORD — 
ARIZONA  MINES — APACHE  RAIDS — CAMP  GRANT  MASSACRE 
— THE  KILLING  OF  LIEUTENANT  GUSHING. 

THE  Feast  of  San  Juan  brought  out  some  very  curious  cus 
toms.  The  Mexican  gallants,  mounted  on  the  fieriest 
steeds  they  could  procure,  would  call  at  the  homes  of  their  "  dul- 
cineas,"  place  the  ladies  on  the  saddle  in  front,  and  ride  up  and 
down  the  streets,  while  disappointed  rivals  threw  fire-crackers 
under  the  horses'  feet.  There  would  be  not  a  little  superb 
equestrianism  displayed  ;  the  secret  of  the  whole  performance 
seeming  to  consist  in  the  nearness  one  could  attain  to  breaking  his 
neck  without  doing  so. 

There  is  another  sport  of  the  Mexicans  which  has  almost  if  not 
quite  died  out  in  the  vicinity  of  Tucson,  but  is  still  maintained 
in  full  vigor  on  the  Rio  Grande  :  running  the  chicken — "  correr 
el  gallo."  In  this  fascinating  sport,  as  it  looked  to  be  for  the 
horsemen,  there  is  or  was  an  old  hen  buried  to  the  neck  in  the 
sand,  and  made  the  target  for  each  rushing  rider  as  he  swoops 
down  and  endeavors  to  seize  the  crouching  fowl.  If  he  succeed, 
he  has  to  ride  off  at  the  fastest  kind  of  a  run  to  avoid  the  pur 
suit  of  his  comrades,  who  follow  and  endeavor  to  wrest  the  prize 
from  his  hands,  and  the  result,  of  course,  is  that  the  poor  hen  is 
pulled  to  pieces. 

Nothing  would  give  me  greater  pleasure  than  to  describe  for 
the  benefit  of  my  readers  the  scenes  presenting  themselves  during 
the  "Function  of  San  Agostin  "  in  Tucson,  or  that  of  San  Fran 
cisco  in  the  Mexican  town  of  Madalena,  a  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  miles,  more  or  less,  to  the  south  ;  the  music,  the  dancing, 
the  gambling,  the  raffles,  the  drinking  of  all  sorts  of  beverages 
strange  to  the  palate  of  the  American  of  the  North  ;  the  dishes, 
hot  and  cold,  of  the  Mexican  cuisine,  the  trading  going  on  in  all 


SPOTTED    TAIL. 


SAN  XAVIER  DEL  BAG.  97 

kinds  of  truck  brought  from  remote  parts  of  the  country,  the 
religious  ceremonial  brilliant  with  lights  and  sweet  with  music 
and  redolent  with  incense. 

For  one  solid  week  these  "  funcciones  lasted/'  and  during  the 
whole  time,  from  early  morn  till  dewy  eve,  the  thump,  thump  of 
the  drum,  the  plinky,  plink,  plink  of  the  harp,  and  the  fluky- 
fluke  of  the  flute  accented  the  shuffling  feet  of  the  unwearied 
dancers.  These  and  events  like  them  deserve  a  volume  by  them 
selves.  I  hope  that  what  has  already  been  written  may  be  taken 
as  a  -series  of  views,  but  not  the  complete  series  of  those  upon 
which  we  looked  from  day  to  day.  No  perfect  picture  of  early 
times  in  Arizona  and  New  Mexico  could  be  delineated  upon  my 
narrow  canvas ;  the  sight  was  distracted  by  strange  scenes,  the 
ears  by  strange  sounds,  many  of  each  horrible  beyond  the  wildest 
dreams.  There  was  the  ever-dreadful  Apache  on  the  one  hand 
to  terrify  and  torment,  and  the  beautiful  ruin  of  San  Xavier  on 
the  other  to  bewilder  and  amaze. 

Of  all  the  mission  churches  within  the  present  limits  of  the 
United  States,  stretching  in  the  long  line  from  San  Antonio, 
Texas,  to  the  presidio  of  San  Francisco,  and  embracing  such  ex 
amples  as  San  Gabriel,  outside  of  Los  Angeles,  and  the  mission 
of  San  Diego,  there  is  not  one  superior,  and  there  are  few  equal, 
to  San  Xavier  del  Bac,  the  church  of  the  Papago  Indians,  nine 
miles  above  Tucson,  on  the  Santa  Cruz.  It  needs  to  be  seen  to 
be  appreciated,  as  no  literal  description,  certainly  none  of  which 
I  am  capable,  can  do  justice  to  its  merits  and  beauty.  What  I 
have  written  here  is  an  epitome  of  the  experience  and  knowledge 
acquired  during  years  of  service  there  and  of  familiarity  with 
its  people  and  the  conditions  in  which  they  lived. 

My  readers  should  bear  in  mind  that  during  the  whole  period 
of  our  stay  in  or  near  Tucson  we  were  on  the  go  constantly,  mov 
ing  from  point  to  point,  scouting  after  an  enemy  who  had  no 
rival  on  the  continent  in  coolness,  daring,  and  subtlety.  To 
save  repetition,  I  will  say  that  the  country  covered  by  our  move 
ments  comprehended  the  region  between  the  Eio  Azul  in  New 
Mexico,  on  the  east,  to  Camp  MacDowell,  on  the  west ;  and 
from  Camp  Apache,  on  the  north,  to  the  Mexican  pueblos  of 
Santa  Cruz  and  Madalena,  far  to  the  south.  Of  all  this  I  wish 
to  say  the  least  possible,  my  intention  being  to  give  a  clear 
7 


98  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

picture  of  Arizona  as  it  was  before  the  arrival  of  General  Crook, 
and  not  to  enter  into  unnecessary  details,  in  which  undue  reference 
must  necessarily  be  had  to  my  own  experiences. 

But  I  do  wish  to  say  that  we  were  for  a  number  of  weeks 
accompanied  by  Governor  Safford,  at  the  head  of  a  contingent  of 
Mexican  volunteers,  who  did  very  good  service  in  the  mountains 
on  the  international  boundary,  the  Huachuca,  and  others.  We 
made  camp  one  night  within  rifle-shot  of  what  has  since  been  the 
flourishing,  and  is  now  the  decayed,  mining  town  of  Tombstone. 
On  still  another  evening,  one  of  our  Mexican  guides — old  Victor 
Ruiz,  one  of  the  best  men  that  ever  lived  on  the  border — said 
that  he  was  anxious  to  ascertain  whether  or  not  his  grandfather's 
memory  was  at  fault  in  the  description  given  of  an  abandoned 
silver  mine,  which  Euiz  was  certain  could  not  be  very  far  from 
where  we  were  sitting.  Naturally  enough,  we  all  volunteered  to 
go  with  him  in  his  search,  and  in  less  than  ten  minutes  we  had 
reached  the  spot  where,  under  a  mass  of  earth  and  stone,  was 
hidden  the  shaft  of  which  our  guide  had  spoken. 

The  stories  that  have  always  circulated  in  Arizona  about  the 
fabulous  wealth  of  her  mineral  leads  as  known  to  the  Spaniards 
have  been  of  such  a  character  as  to  turn  the  brain  of  the  most 
conservative.  The  Plancha  de  la  Plata,  where  a  lump  of  virgin 
silver  weighing  over  two  thousand  pounds  was  exhumed  ;  the 
"Thorn  Mine,"  or  the  "  Lost  Cabin  Mine/'  in  the  Tonto  Basin  ; 
the  "  Salero,"  where  the  padre  in  charge,  wishing  to  enter 
tain  his  bishop  in  proper  style,  and  finding  that  he  had  no 
salt-cellars  ready,  ordered  certain  of  the  Indians  to  dig  out 
enough  ore  to  make  a  solid  silver  basin,  which  was  placed  in 
all  its  crudity  before  the  superior — all  these  were  ringing  in 
our  ears,  and  made  our  task  of  moving  the  rocks  and  debris  a 
very  light  one. 

Disappointment  attended  our  discovery  ;  the  assays  of  the  ore 
forwarded  to  San  Francisco  were  not  such  as  to  stimulate  the 
work  of  development ;  the  rock  was  not  worth  more  than  seven 
teen  dollars  a  ton,  which  in  those  years  would  not  half  pay  the 
cost  of  reduction  of  silver. 

We  were  among  the  very  first  to  come  upon  the  rich  ledges  of 
copper  which  have  since  furnished  the  mainstay  to  the  prosperity 
of  the  town  of  Clifton,  on  the  border  of  New  Mexico,  and  we 
knocked  off  pieces  of  pure  metal,  and  brought  them  back  to 


SOME   SCOUTING  INCIDENTS.  99 

Tucson  to  show  to  the  people  there,  on  returning  from  our  scouts 
in  the  upper  Gila. 

On  one  occasion  the  Apaches  ran  off  the  herd  of  sheep  belong 
ing  to  Tully,  Ochoa  &  DeLong,  which  were  grazing  in  the  foot-hills 
of  the  Santa  Teresa  not  two  miles  from  town.  The  young  Mexi 
can  who  was  on  duty  as  "pastor"  kept  his  ears  open  for  the 
tinkle  of  the  bell,  and  every  now  and  then  would  rouse  himself 
from  his  doze  to  look  around  the  mesquite  under  which  he  sat, 
to  ascertain  that  his  flock  was  all  right.  Gradually,  the  heat  of 
the  day  became  more  and  more  oppressive,  and  the  poor  boy,  still 
hearing  the  tintinnabulation,  was  in  a  delightful  day-dream, 
thinking  of  his  supper,  perhaps,  when  he  half-opened  his  eyes, 
and  saw  leering  at  him  a  full-grown  Apache,  who  had  all  the 
while  been  gently  shaking  the  bell  taken  an  hour  or  two  before 
from  the  neck  of  the  wether  which,  with  the  rest  of  the  flock,  was 
a  good  long  distance  out  of  sight  behind  the  hills,  near  the 
"  Punta  del  Agua."  The  boy,  frightened  out  of  his  wits,  screamed 
lustily,  and  the  Apache,  delighted  by  his  terror,  flung  the  bell 
at  his  head,  and  then  set  off  at  a  run  to  gain  the  hills  where 
his  comrades  were.  The  alarm  soon  reached  town,  and  the 
sheep  were  recovered  before  midnight,  and  by  dawn  the  next 
day  were  back  on  their  old  pasturage,  excepting  the  foot-sore 
and  the  weary,  too  weak  to  travel. 

Our  scouting  had  its  share  of  incidents  grave,  gay,  melan 
choly,  ludicrous ;  men  killed  and  wounded  ;  Apaches  ditto  ;  and 
the  usual  amount  of  hard  climbing  by  day,  or  marching  by  night 
upon  trails  which  sometimes  led  us  upon  the  enemy,  and  very 
often  did  not. 

There  was  one  very  good  man,  Moore,  if  I  remember  his  name 
correctly,  who  died  of  the  "fever" — malaria — and  was  carried 
from  the  "  Grassy  Plain  "  into  old  Camp  Goodwin,  on  the  Gila, 
near  the  Warm  Spring.  No  sooner  had  we  arrived  at  Goodwin 
than  one  of  the  men — soldier  or  civilian  employee,  I  do  not  know 
now — attempted  to  commit  suicide,  driven  to  despair  by  the  utter 
isolation  of  his  position ;  and  two  of  our  own  company— Ser 
geant  John  Mott  and  one  other,  both  excellent  men — dropped 
down,  broken  up  with  the  "fever,"  which  would  yield  to  nothing 
but  the  most  heroic  treatment  with  quinine. 

In  a  skirmish  with  the  Apaches  near  the  head  of  Deer  Creek, 


100          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

one  of  our  men,  named  Shire,  was  struck  by  a  rifle  ball  in  the 
knee-cap,  the  ball  ranging  downward,  and  lodging  in  the  lower 
leg  near  the  ankle  bone.  We  were  sore  distressed.  There  was  no 
doctor  with  the  little  command,  a  criminal  neglect  for  which 
Gushing  was  not  responsible,  and  there  was  no  guide,  as  Manuel 
Duran,  who  generally  went  out  with  us,  was  lying  in  Tucson 
seriously  ill.  No  one  was  hurt  badly  enough  to  excite  apprehen 
sion  excepting  Shire,  whose  wound  was  not  bleeding  at  all,  the 
hemorrhage  being  on  the  inside. 

Sergeant  Warfield,  Gushing,  and  I  stayed  up  all  night  talking 
over  the  situation,  and  doing  so  in  a  low  tone,  lest  Shire  should 
suspect  that  we  had  not  been  telling  the  truth  when  we  persuaded 
him  to  believe  that  he  had  been  hit  by  a  glancing  bullet,  which 
had  benumbed  the  whole  leg  but  had  not  inflicted  a  very  serious 
wound. 

Our  Mexican  packers  were  called  into  consultation,  and  the 
result  was  that  by  four  in  the  morning,  as  soon  as  a  cup  of 
coffee  could  be  made,  I  was  on  my  way  over  to  the  Aravaypa 
Canon  at  the  head  of  a  small  detachment  in  charge  of  the 
wounded  man,  who  was  firmly  strapped  to  his  saddle.  We 
got  along  very  well  so  long  as  we  were  on  the  high  hills  and 
mountains,  where  the  horse  of  the  sufferer  could  be  led,  and 
he  himself  supported  by  friendly  hands  on  each  side.  To  get 
down  into  the  chasm  of  the  Aravaypa  was  a  horse  of  altogether 
a  different  color.  The  trail  was  extremely  steep,  stony,  and 
slippery,  and  the  soldier,  heroic  as  he  was,  could  not  repress  a 
groan  as  his  horse  jarred  him  by  slipping  under  his  weight  on 
the  wretched  path.  At  the  foot  of  the  descent  it  was  evident 
that  something  else  in  the  way  of  transportation  would  have 
to  be  provided,  as  the  man's  strength  was  failing  rapidly  and  he 
could  no  longer  sit  up. 

Lieutenant  Gush  ing's  orders  were  for  me  to  leave  the  party 
just  as  soon  as  I  thought  I  could  do  so  safely,  and  then  ride  as 
fast  as  the  trail  would  permit  to  Gamp  Grant,  and  there  get  all 
the  aid  possible.  It  seemed  to  me  that  there  could  be  no  better 
time  for  hurrying  to  the  post  than  the  present,  which  found  the 
detachment  at  a  point  where  it  could  defend  itself  from  the 
attack  of  any  roving  party  of  the  enemy,  and  supplied  with  grass 
for  the  animals  and  fuel  and  water  for  the  men. 

Shire  had  fainted  as  I  mounted  and  started  with  one  of  the 


SHIRE'S  NARROW  ESCAPE.  101 

men,  Corporal  Harrington,  for  the  post,  some  twelve  miles  away. 
We  did  not  have  much  more  of  the  cafion  to  bother  us,  and  made 
good  speed  all  the  way  down  the  Aravaypa  and  into  the  post, 
where  I  hurriedly  explained  the  situation  and  had  an  ambulance 
start  up  the  canon  with  blankets  and  other  comforts,  while  in 
the  post  itself  everything  was  made  ready  for  the  amputation  in 
the  hospital,  which  all  knew  to  be  a  foregone  conclusion,  and  a 
mounted  party  was  sent  to  Tucson  to  summon  Dr.  Durant  to 
assist  in  the  operation. 

Having  done  all  this,  I  started  back  up  the  cation  and  came 
upon  my  own  detachment  slowly  making  its  way  down.  In  an 
other  hour  the  ambulance  had  rolled  up  to  the  door  of  the  hos 
pital,  and  the  wounded  man  was  on  a  cot  under  the  influence  of 
anaesthetics.  The  amputation  was  made  at  the  upper  third  of  the 
thigh,  and  resulted  happily,  and  the  patient  in  due  time  recovered, 
although  he  had  a  close  call  for  his  life. 

The  winter  of  1870  and  the  spring  of  1871  saw  no  let  up  in  the 
amount  of  scouting  which  was  conducted  against  the  Apaches. 
The  enemy  resorted  to  a  system  of  tactics  which  had  often  been 
tried  in  the  past  and  always  with  success.  A  number  of  simul 
taneous  attacks  were  made  at  points  widely  separated,  thus  con 
fusing  both  troops  and  settlers,  spreading  a  vague  sense  of 
fear  over  all  the  territory  infested,  and  imposing  upon  the  sol 
diery  an  exceptional  amount  of  work  of  the  hardest  conceivable 
kind. 

Attacks  were  made  in  southern  Arizona  upon  the  stage  stations 
at  the  San  Pedro,  and  the  Cienaga,  as  well  as  the  one  near  the 
Picacho,  and  upon  the  ranchos  in  the  Barbacomori  valley,  and  in 
the  San  Pedro,  near  Tres  Alamos.  Then  came  the  news  of  a  fight 
at  Pete  Kitchen's,  and  finally,  growing  bolder,  the  enemy  drove 
off  a  herd  of  cattle  from  Tucson  itself,  some  of  them  beeves,  and 
others  work-oxen  belonging  to  a  wagon-train  from  Texas.  Lastly 
came  the  killing  of  the  stage  mail-rider,  between  the  town  and 
the  Mission  church  of  San  Xavier,  and  the  massacre  of  the  party 
of  Mexicans  going  down  to  Sopora,  which  occurred  not  far  from 
the  Sonoita. 

One  of  the  members  of  this  last  party  was  a  beautiful  young 
Mexican  lady — Dofla  Trinidad  Aguirre — who  belonged  to  a  very 
respectable  family  in  the  Mexican  Republic,  and  was  on  her  way 
back  from  a  visit  to  relatives  in  Tucson. 


102          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

That  one  so  young,  so  beautiful  and  bright,,  should  have  been 
snatched  away  by  a  most  cruel  death  at  the  hands  of  savages, 
aroused  the  people  of  all  the  country  south  of  the  Gila,  and 
nothing  was  talked  of,  nothing  was  thought  of,  but  vengeance 
upon  the  Apaches. 

Gushing  all  this  time  had  kept  our  troop  moving  without 
respite.  There  were  fights,  and  ambuscades,  and  attacks  upon 
"rancherias,"and  night-marches  without  number,  several  result 
ing  in  the  greatest  success.  I  am  not  going  to  waste  any  space 
upon  these,  because  there  is  much  of  the  same  sort  to  come, 
and  I  am  afraid  of  tiring  out  the  patience  of  my  readers  before 
reaching  portions  of  this  book  where  there  are  to  be  found 
descriptions  of  very  spirited  engagements. 

The  trail  of  the  raiders  upon  the  ranch  at  the  "  Oienaga  " 
(now  called  "  Pantano"  by  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  people) 
took  down  into  the  <s  Mestinez,"  or  Mustang  Mountains,  so  called 
from  the  fact  that  a  herd  of  wild  ponies  were  to  be  found  there 
or  not  far  off.  They  did  not  number  more  than  sixty  all  told 
when  I  last  saw  them  in  1870,  and  were  in  all  probability  the  last 
herd  of  wild  horses  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States.  In 
this  range,  called  also  the  "Whetstone"  Mountains,  because 
there  exists  a  deposit  or  ledge  of  the  rock  known  as  "  novacu- 
lite  "  or  whetstone  of  the  finest  quality,  we  came  upon  the  half 
calcined  bones  of  two  men  burned  to  death  by  the  Apaches  ; 
and  after  marching  out  into  the  open  valley  of  the  San  Pedro,  and 
crossing  a  broad  expanse  covered  with  yucca  and  sage-brush,  we 
came  to  a  secluded  spot  close  to  the  San  Jose  range,  where  the 
savages  had  been  tearing  up  the  letters  contained  in  one  of  Uncle 
Sam's  mail-bags,  parts  of  which  lay  scattered  about. 

When  the  work-oxen  of  the  Texans  were  run  off,  the  Apaches 
took  them  over  the  steepest,  highest  and  rockiest  part  of  the  Sierra 
Santa  Catalina,  where  one  would  not  believe  that  a  bird  would 
dare  to  fly.  We  followed  closely,  guided  by  Manuel  Duran  and 
others,  but  progress  was  difficult  and  slow,  on  account  of  the 
nature  of  the  trail.  As  we  picked  our  way,  foot  by  foot,  we 
could  discern  the  faintest  sort  of  a  mark,  showing  that  a  trail 
had  run  across  there  and  had  lately  been  used  by  the  Apaches. 
But  all  the  good  done  by  that  hard  march  was  the  getting  back 
of  the  meat  of  the  stock  which  the  Apaches  -killed  just  the  mo 
ment  they  reached  the  canons  under  the  Trumbull  Peak.  Two 


THE  CAMP   GRANT   MASSACRE.  1Q3 

or  three  of  the  oxen  were  still  alive,  but  so  nearly  run  to  death 
that  we  killed  them  as  an  act  of  mercy. 

Three  of  our  party  were  hurt  in  the  melee,  and  we  scored 
three  hits,  one  a  beautiful  shot  by  Manuel,  who  killed  his  man 
the  moment  he  exposed  himself  to  his  aim,  and  two  wounded, 
how  seriously  we  could  not  tell,  as  by  the  time  we  had  made  our 
way  to  the  top  of  the  rocks  the  enemy  had  gone  with  their 
wounded,  leaving  only  two  pools  of  blood  to  show  where  the 
bullets  had  taken  effect. 

The  trail  leading  to  the  place  where  the  Apaches  had  taken 
refuge  was  so  narrow  that  one  of  our  pack-mules  lost  his  footing 
and  fell  down  the  precipice,  landing  upon  the  top  of  a  tree 
below  and  staying  there  for  a  full  minute,  when  the  branches 
broke  under  him  and  let  him  have  another  fall,  breaking  his 
back  and  making  it  necessary  to  blow  his  brains  out  as  soon  as 
the  action  was  over  and  we  could  take  time  to  breathe. 

Then  followed  the  fearful  scene  of  bloodshed  known  as  the 
•'•  Camp  Grant  Massacre,"  which  can  only  be  referred  to — a  full 
description  would  require  a  volume  of  its  own.  A  small  party  of 
Apaches  had  presented  themselves  at  Camp  Grant,  and  made 
known  to  the  commanding  officer  that  they  and  their  friends 
up  in  the  Aravaypa  Canon  were  willing  and  anxious  to  make 
peace  and  to  stay  near  the  post,  provided  they  could  get  food 
and  clothing.  They  were  told  to  return  with  their  whole  tribe, 
which  they  soon  did,  and  there  is  no  good  reason  for  supposing 
that  the  greater  portion  of  them  were  not  honest  in  their  profes 
sions  and  purposes.  The  blame  of  what  was  to  follow  could  not 
be  laid  at  the  doors  of  the  local  military  authorities,  who  exerted 
themselves  in  every  way  to  convey  information  of  what  had  hap 
pened  to  the  Department  headquarters,  then  at  Los  Angeles.  As 
previously  stated,  there  was  no  mode  of  communication  in  Ari 
zona  save  the  stage,  which  took  five  days  to  make  the  trip  from 
Tucson  to  Los  Angeles,  and  as  many  more  for  a  return  trip,  there 
being  no  telegraph  in  existence. 

Weeks  and  weeks  were  frittered  away  in  making  reports  which 
should  have  reached  headquarters  afc  once  and  should  have  been 
acted  upon  without  the  delay  of  a  second.  The  story  was  circu 
lated  and  generally  believed,  that  the  first  report  was  returned 
to  the  officer  sending  it,  with  instructions  to  return  it  to  Depart 
ment  headquarters  <(  properly  briefed,"  that  is,  with  a  synopsis 


104          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

of  its  contents  properly  written  on  the  outer  flap  of  the  com 
munication  when  folded.  There  was  no  effort  made,  as  there 
should  have  been  made,  to  separate  the  peaceably  disposed 
Indians  from  those  who  still  preferred  to  remain  out  on  the  war 
path,  and  as  a  direct  consequence  of  this  neglect  ensued  one  of  the 
worst  blots  in  the  history  of  American  civilization,  the  "  Camp 
Grant  Massacre." 

A  party  of  more  than  one  hundred  Papago  Indians,  from  the 
village  of  San  Xavier,  led  by  a  small  detachment  of  whites  and 
half-breed  Mexicans  from  Tucson,  took  up  the  trail  of  one  of  the 
parties  of  raiders  which  had  lately  attacked  the  settlers  and  the 
peaceable  Indians  in  the  valley  of  the  Santa  Cruz.  What  followed 
is  matter  of  history.  The  pursuing  party  claimed  that  the  trails 
led  straight  to  the  place  occupied  by  the  Apaches  who  had  sur 
rendered  at  Camp  Grant,  and  it  is  likely  that  this  is  so,  since  one 
of  the  main  trails  leading  to  the  country  of  the  Aravaypa  and 
Gila  bands  passed  under  the  Sierra  Pinaleno,  near  the  point  in 
question.  It  was  claimed  further  that  a  horse  belonging  to  Don 
Leopoldo  Carrillo  was  found  in  the  possession  of  one  of  the  young 
boys  coming  out  of  the  village,  and  that  some  of  the  clothing  of 
Dona  Trinidad  Aguirre  was  also  found. 

These  stories  may  be  true,  and  they  may  be  after- thoughts  to 
cover  up  and  extenuate  the  ferocity  of  the  massacre  which  spared 
neither  age  nor  sex  in  its  wrath,  but  filled  the  valley  of  the  Ara 
vaypa  with  dead  and  dying.  The  incident,  one  of  the  saddest  and 
most  terrible  in  our  annals,  is  one  over  which  I  would  gladly  draw 
a  veil.  To  my  mind  it  indicated  the  weak  spot  in  all  our  deal 
ings  with  the  aborigines,  a  defective  point  never  repaired  and 
never  likely  to  be.  According  to  our  system  of  settling  up  the 
public  lands,  there  are  no  such  things  as  colonies  properly  so 
called.  Each  settler  is  free  to  go  where  he  pleases,  to  take  up 
such  area  as  the  law  permits,  and  to  protect  himself  as  best  he 
can.  The  army  has  always  been  too  small  to  afford  all  the 
protection  the  frontier  needed,  and  affairs  have  been  permitted 
to  drift  along  in  a  happy-go-lucky  sort  of  a  way  indicative 
rather  of  a  sublime  faith  in  divine  providence  than  of  common 
sense  and  good  judgment. 

The  settlers,  in  all  sections  of  the  West,  have  been  representa 
tive  of  the  best  elements  of  the  older  States  from  which  they  set 
forth,  but  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  among  them  have  been  a 


ESCAPE  OF  THE  DETACHMENT.          105 

fair,  possibly  more  than  a  fair,  share  of  the  reckless,  the  idle  and 
the  dissolute.  On  the  other  hand,  among  the  savages,  there 
have  been  as  many  young  bloods  anxious  to  win  renown  in  battle 
as  there  have  been  old  wise-heads  desirous  of  preserving  the  best 
feeling  with  the  new  neighbors.  The  worst  members  of  the  two 
races  are  brought  into  contact,  and  the  usual  results  follow ; 
trouble  springs  up,  and  it  is  not  the  bad  who  suffer,  but  the 
peaceably  disposed  on  each  side. 

On  the  5th  day  of  May,  1871,  Lieutenant  Howard  B.  Gushing, 
Third  Cavalry,  with  several  civilians  and  three  soldiers,  was  killed 
by  the  Chiricahua  Apaches,  under  their  famous  chief  "  Cocheis," 
at  the  Bear  Springs,  in  the  Whetstone  Mountains,  about  thirty- 
five  miles  from  Tucson  and  about  the  same  distance  to  the  east 
of  old  Camp  Crittenden.  Cushing's  whole  force  numbered 
twenty-two  men,  the  larger  part  of  whom  were  led  into  an 
ambuscade  in  the  cafion  containing  the  spring.  The  fight  was 
a  desperate  one,  and  fought  with  courage  and  great  skill  on  both 
sides.  Our  forces  were  surrounded  before  a  shot  had  been  fired ; 
and  it  was  while  Gushing  was  endeavoring  to  lead  his  men  back 
that  he  received  the  wounds  which  killed  him.  Had  it  not  been 
for  the  courage  and  good  judgment  displayed  by  Sergeant  John 
Mott,  who  had  seen  a  great  amount  of  service  against  the  Apaches, 
not  one  of  the  command  would  have  escaped  alive  out  of  the 
cafion. 

Mott  was  in  command  of  the  rear-guard,  and,  in  coming  up  to 
the  assistance  of  Lieutenant  Gushing,  detected  the  Apaches  mov 
ing  behind  a  low  range  of  hills  to  gain  Cushiug's  rear.  He  sent 
word  ahead,  and  that  induced  Lieutenant  Gushing  to  fall  back. 

After  Gushing  dropped,  the  Apaches  made  a  determined  charge 
and  came  upon  our  men  hand  to  hand.  The  little  detachment 
could  save  only  those  horses  and  mules  which  were  ridden  at  the 
moment  the  enemy  made  the  attack,  because  the  men  who  had 
dismounted  to  fight  on  foot  were  unable  to  remount,  such  was  the 
impetuosity  of  the  rush  made  by  the  Chiricahuas.  There  were 
enough  animals  to  "ride  and  tie,"  and  Mott,  by  keeping  up  on 
the  backbone  of  the  hills  running  along  the  Barbacomori  Valley, 
was  enabled  to  reach  Camp  Crittenden  without  being  surrounded 
or  ambuscaded. 

Inside  of  forty-eight  hours  there  were  three  troops  of  cavalry 
en  route  to  Crittenden,  and  in  pursuit  of  the  Apaches,  but  no 


106          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

good  could  be  effected.  Major  William  J.  Ross,  at  that  time  in 
command  of  Camp  Crittenden,  was  most  energetic  in  getting 
word  to  the  various  military  commands  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  country,  as  well  as  in  extending  every  aid  and  kindness  to 
the  wounded  brought  in  by  Mott. 

When  the  combined  force  had  arrived  at  Bear  Spring,  there 
was  to  be  seen  every  evidence  of  a  most  bloody  struggle.  The 
bodies  of  Lieutenant  Gushing  and  comrades  lay  where  they  had 
fallen,  stripped  of  clothing,  which  the  Apaches  always  carried 
off  from  their  victims.  In  all  parts  of  the  narrow  little  canon 
were  the  carcasses  of  ponies  and  horses  half-eaten  by  the  coyotes 
and  buzzards  ;  broken  saddles,  saddle-bags,  canteens  with  bullet- 
holes  in  them,  pieces  of  harness  and  shreds  of  clothing  scattered 
about,  charred  to  a  crisp  in  the  flames  which  the  savages  had 
ignited  in  the  grass  to  conceal  their  line  of  retreat. 

Of  how  many  Apaches  had  been  killed,  there  was  not  the  re 
motest  suggestion  to  be  obtained.  That  there  had  been  a  heavy 
loss  among  the  Indians  could  be  suspected  from  the  signs  of 
bodies  having  been  dragged  to  certain  points,  and  there,  appar 
ently,  put  on  pony-back. 

The  Chiricahuas  seemed  to  have  ascended  the  canon  until 
they  had  attained  the  crest  of  the  range  in  a  fringe  of  pine  tim 
ber  ;  but  no  sooner  did  they  pass  over  into  the  northern  foot-hills 
than  they  broke  in  every  direction,  and  did  not  re-unite  until 
near  our  boundary  line  with  Mexico,  where  their  trail  was  struck 
and  followed  for  several  days  by  Major  Gerald  Russell  of  the 
Third  Cavalry.  They  never  halted  until  they  had  regained  the 
depths  of  the  Sierra  Madre,  their  chosen  haunt,  and  towards 
which  Russell  followed  them  so  long  as  his  broken-down  animals 
could  travel. 

Of  the  distinguished  services  rendered  to  Arizona  by  Lieuten 
ant  Gushing,  a  book  might  well  be  written.  It  is  not  intended 
to  disparage  anybody  when  I  say  that  he  had  performed  hercu 
lean  and  more  notable  work,  perhaps,  than  had  been  performed 
by  any  other  officer  of  corresponding  rank  either  before  or  since. 
Southern  Arizona  owed  much  to  the  gallant  officers  who  wore 
out  strength  and  freely  risked  life  and  limb  in  her  defence — men 
of  the  stamp  of  Devin,  C.  C.  Carr,  Sanford,  Gerald  Russell, 
Winters,  Harris,  Almy,  Carroll,  McCleave,  Kelly,  and  many 
others.  They  were  all  good  men  and  true  ;  but  if  there  were  any 


THE  FORT   BOWIE  GRAVEYARD.  10? 

choice  among  them  I  am  sure  that  the  verdict,  if  left  to  those 
soldiers  themselves,  would  be  in  favor  of  Gushing. 

Standing  on  the  summit  of  the  Whetstone  Range,  which  has 
no  great  height,  one  can  see  the  places,  or  the  hills  overlooking 
them,  where  several  other  officers  met  their  death  at  the  hands 
of  the  same  foe.  To  the  west  is  Davidson's  Canon,  where  the 
Apaches  ambushed  and  killed  Lieutenant  Reid  T.  Stewart  and 
Corporal  Black ;  on  the  north,  the  cone  of  Trumbull  overlooks 
the  San  Carlos  Agency,  where  the  brave  Almy  fell ;  to  the  north 
west  are  the  Tortolita  hills,  near  which  Miller  and  Tappan  were 
killed  in  ambuscade,  as  already  narrated  ;  and  to  the  east  are  the 
Chiricahua  Mountains,  in  whose  bosom  rests  Fort  Bowie  with  its 
grewsome  graveyard  filled  with  such  inscriptions  as  "Killed  by 
the  Apaches,'7  f<  Met  his  death  at  the  hands  of  the  Apaches," 
"Died  of  wounds  inflicted  by  Apache  Indians,"  and  at  times 
"Tortured  and  killed  by  Apaches."  One  visit  to  that  cemetery 
was  warranted  to  furnish  the  most  callous  with  nightmares  for  a 
month. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

GENERAL  CROOK  AND  THE  APACHES— CROOK'S  PERSONAL  APPEAR 
ANCE  AND  CHARACTERISTICS — POINTS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF 
THE  APACHES — THEIR  SKILL  IN  WAR — FOODS  AND  MODES 
OF  COOKING — MEDICINE  MEN — THEIR  POWER  AND  INFLU 
ENCE. 

WHEN  General  Crook  received  orders  to  go  out  to  Arizona 
and  assume  command  of  that  savage-infested  Department, 
he  at  once  obeyed  the  order,  and  reached  his  new  post  of  duty 
without  baggage  and  without  fuss. 

All  the  baggage  he  had  would  not  make  as  much  compass  as 
a  Remington  type-writer.  The  only  thing  with  him  which  could 
in  any  sense  be  classed  as  superfluous  was  a  shotgun,  but  without 
this  or  a  rifle  he  never  travelled  anywhere. 

He  came,  as  I  say,  without  the  slightest  pomp  or  parade,  and 
without  any  one  in  San  Francisco,  except  his  immediate  superiors, 
knowing  of  his  departure,  and  without  a  soul  in  Tucson,  not  even 
the  driver  of  the  stage  which  had  carried  him  and  his  baggage, 
knowing  of  his  arrival.  There  were  no  railroads,  there  were  no 
telegraphs  in  Arizona^  and  Crook  was  the  last  man  in  the  world 
to  seek  notoriety  had  they  existed.  His  whole  idea  of  life  was 
to  do  each  duty  well,  and  to  let  his  work  speak  for  itself. 

He  arrived  in  the  morning,  went  up  to  the  residence  of  his  old 
friend,  Governor  Safford,  with  whom  he  lunched,  and  before  sun 
down  every  officer  within  the  limits  of  what  was  then  called  the 
southern  district  of  Arizona  was  under  summons  to  report  to  him  ; 
that  is,  if  the  orders  had  not  reached  them  they  were  on  the  way. 

From  each  he  soon  extracted  all  he  knew  about  the  country, 
the  lines  of  travel,  the  trails  across  the  various  mountains,  the 
fords  where  any  were  required  for  the  streams,  the  nature  of 
the  soil,  especially  its  products,  such  as  grasses,  character  of  the 
climate,  the  condition  of  the  pack-mules,  and  all  pertaining  to 
them,  and  every  other  item  of  interest  a  commander  could  possibly 


CROOK'S  RESERVE  AND  MODESTY.  109 

want  to  have  determined.  But  in  reply  not  one  word,  not  one 
glance,  not  one  hint,  as  to  what  he  was  going  to  do  or  what  he 
would  like  to  do. 

This  was  the  point  in  Crook's  character  which  made  the 
strongest  impression  upon  every  one  coming  in  contact  with  him 
— his  ability  to  learn  all  that  his  informant  had  to  supply,  without 
yielding  in  return  the  slightest  suggestion  of  his  own  plans  and 
purposes.  He  refused  himself  to  no  one,  no  matter  how  humble, 
but  was  possessed  of  a  certain  dignity  which  repressed  any  ap 
proach  to  undue  familiarity.  He  was  singularly  averse  to  the 
least  semblance  of  notoriety,  and  was  as  retiring  as  a  girl.  He 
never  consulted  with  any  one ;  made  his  own  plans  after  the 
most  studious  deliberation,  and  kept  them  to  himself  with  a 
taciturnity  which  at  times  must  have  been  exasperating  to  his 
subordinates.  Although  taciturn,  reticent,  and  secretive,  morose- 
ness  formed  no  part  of  his  nature,  which  was  genial  and  sunny. 
He  took  great  delight  in  conversation,  especially  in  that  wherein 
he  did  not  have  to  join  if  indisposed. 

He  was  always  interested  in  the  career  and  progress  of  the 
young  officers  under  him,  and  glad  to  listen  to  their  plans  and 
learn  their  aspirations.  No  man  can  say  that  in  him  the  subal 
tern  did  not  have  the  brightest  of  exemplars,  since  Crook  was  a 
man  who  never  indulged  in  stimulant  of  any  kind — not  so  much 
as  tea  or  coffee — never  used  tobacco,  was  never  heard  to  employ 
a  profane  or  obscene  word,  and  was  ever  and  always  an  officer  to 
do,  and  do  without  pomp  or  ceremony,  all  that  was  required  of 
him,  and  much  more. 

No  officer  could  claim  that  he  was  ever  ordered  to  do  a  duty 
when  the  Department  commander  was  present,  which  the  latter 
would  not  in  person  lead.  No  officer  of  the  same  rank,  at  least 
in  our  service,  issued  so  few  orders.  According  to  his  creed,  offi 
cers  did  not  need  to  be  devilled  with  orders  and  instructions 
and  memoranda  ;  all  that  they  required  was  to  obtain  an  insight 
into  what  was  desired  of  them,  and  there  was  no  better  way  to 
inculcate  this  than  by  personal  example. 

Therefore,  whenever  there  was  a  trouble  of  any  magnitude  under 
Crook's  jurisdiction  he  started  at  once  to  the  point  nearest  the 
skirmish  line,  and  stayed  there  so  long  as  the  danger  existed  ;  but 
he  did  it  all  so  quietly,  and  with  so  little  parade,  that  half  the 
time  no  one  would  suspect  that  there  was  any  hostility  threatened 


HO          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

until  after  the  whole  matter  had  blown  over  or  been  stamped  out, 
and  the  General  back  at  his  headquarters. 

This  aversion  to  display  was  carried  to  an  extreme  ;  he  never 
liked  to  put  on  uniform  when  it  could  be  avoided  ;  never  allowed 
an  orderly  to  follow  him  about  a  post,  and  in  every  manner  pos 
sible  manifested  a  nature  of  unusual  modesty,  and  totally  devoid 
of  affectation.  He  had  one  great  passion — hunting,  or  better  say, 
hunting  and  fishing.  Often  he  would  stray  away  for  days  with 
no  companion  but  his  dog  and  the  horse  or  mule  he  rode,  and 
remain  absent  until  a  full  load  of  game — deer,  wild  turkey,  quail, 
or  whatever  it  might  happen  to  be — rewarded  his  energy  and 
patience.  From  this  practice  he  diverged  slightly  as  he  grew 
older,  yielding  to  the  expostulations  of  his  staff,  who  impressed 
upon  him  that  it  was  nothing  but  the  merest  prudence  to  be 
accompanied  by  an  Indian  guide,  who  could  in  case  of  necessity 
break  back  for  the  command  or  the  post  according  to  circum 
stances. 

In  personal  appearance  General  Crook  was  manly  and  strong ; 
he  was  a  little  over  six  feet  in  height,  straight  as  a  lance,  broad 
and  square-shouldered,  full-chested,  and  with  an  elasticity  and 
sinewiness  of  limb  which  betrayed  the  latent  muscular  power 
gained  by  years  of  constant  exercise  in  the  hills  and  mountains  of 
the  remoter  West. 

In  his  more  youthful  days,  soon  after  being  graduated  from 
the  Military  Academy,  he  was  assigned  to  duty  with  one  of  the 
companies  of  the  Fourth  Infantry,  then  serving  in  the  Oregon 
Territory.  It  was  the  period  of  the  gold-mining  craze  on  the 
Pacific  coast,  and  prices  were  simply  prohibitory  for  all  the  com 
forts  of  life.  Crook  took  a  mule,  a  frying-pan,  a  bag  of  salt  and 
one  of  flour,  a  rifle  and  shotgun,  and  sallied  out  into  the  wilder 
ness.  By  his  energy  and  skill  he  kept  the  mess  fully  supplied  with 
every  kind  of  wild  meat — venison,  quail,  duck,  and  others — and  at 
the  end  of  the  first  month,  after  paying  all  the  expenses  on  account 
of  ammunition,  was  enabled  from  the  funds  realized  by  selling 
the  surplus  meat  to  miners  and  others,  to  declare  a  dividend  of 
respectable  proportions,  to  the  great  delight  of  his  messmates. 

His  love  for  hunting  and  fishing,  which  received  its  greatest 
impetus  in  those  days  of  his  service  in  Oregon  and  Northern 
California,  increased  rather  than  diminished  as  the  years  passed 
by.  He  became  not  only  an  exceptionally  good  shot,  but  ac- 


CROOK  AS  A  NATURALIST.  HI 

quired  a  familiarity  with  the  habits  of  wild  animals  possessed 
by  but  few  naturalists.  Little  by  little  he  was  induced  to  read 
upon  the  subject,  until  the  views  of  the  most  eminent  ornithol 
ogists  and  naturalists  were  known  to  him,  and  from  this  fol 
lowed  in  due  sequence  a  development  of  his  taste  for  taxidermy, 
which  enabled  him  to  pass  many  a  lonesome  hour  in  the  congenial 
task  of  preserving  and  mounting  his  constantly  increasing  col 
lection  of  birds  and  pelts. 

There  were  few,  if  any,  of  the  birds  or  beasts  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  and  the  country  west  of  them  to  the  waters  of  the 
Pacific,  which  had  not  at  some  time  furnished  tribute  to  General 
Crook's  collection.  In  the  pursuit  of  the  wilder  animals  he 
cared  nothing  for  fatigue,  hunger,  or  the  perils  of  the  cliffs,  or 
those  of  t>eing  seized  in  the  jaws  of  an  angry  bear  or  mountain 
lion. 

He  used  to  take  great,  and,  in  my  opinion,  reprehensible  risks 
in  his  encounters  with  grizzlies  and  brown  bears,  many  of  whose 
pelts  decorated  his  quarters.  Many  times  I  can  recall  in  Arizona, 
Wyoming,  and  Montana,  where  he  had  left  the  command,  taking 
with  him  only  one  Indian  guide  as  a  companion,  and  had  struck 
out  to  one  flank  or  the  other,  following  some  "  sign/'  until  an 
hour  or  two  later  a  slender  signal  smoke  warned  the  pack-train 
that  he  had  a  prize  of  bear-meat  or  venison  waiting  for  the  arrival 
of  the  animals  which  were  to  carry  it  back  to  camp. 

Such  constant  exercise  toughened  muscle  and  sinew  to  the 
rigidity  of  steel  and  the  elasticity  of  rubber,  while  association 
with  the  natives  enabled  him  constantly  to  learn  their  habits  and 
ideas,  and  in  time  to  become  almost  one  of  themselves. 

If  night  overtook  him  at  a  distance  from  camp,  he  would 
picket  his  animal  to  a  bush  convenient  to  the  best  grass,  take  out 
his  heavy  hunting-knife  and  cut  down  a  pile  of  the  smaller 
branches  of  the  pine,  cedar,  or  sage-brush,  as  the  case  might  be, 
and  with  them  make  a  couch  upon  which,  wrapped  in  his  over 
coat  and  saddle-blanket,  he  would  sleep  composedly  till  the  rise 
pf  the  morning  star,  when  he  would  light  his  fire,  broil  a  slice 
of  venison,  give  his  horse  some  water,  saddle  up  and  be  off  to 
look  for  the  trail  of  his  people. 

His  senses  became  highly  educated  ;  his  keen,  blue-gray  eyes 
would  detect  in  a  second  and  at  a  wonderful  distance  the  slight 
est  movement  across  the  horizon  ;  the  slightest  sound  aroused 


112          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

his  curiosity,  the  faintest  odor  awakened  his  suspicions.  He 
noted  the  smallest  depression  in  the  sand,  the  least  deflection 
in  the  twigs  or  branches  ;  no  stone  could  be  moved  from  its 
position  in  the  trail  without  appealing  at  once  to  his  perceptions. 
He  became  skilled  in  the  language  of  " signs"  and  trails,  and 
so  perfectly  conversant  with  all  that  is  concealed  in  the  great 
book  of  Nature  that,  in  the  mountains  at  least,  he  might  read 
ily  take  rank  as  being  fully  as  much  an  Indian  as  the  Indian 
himself. 

There  never  was  an  officer  in  our  military  service  so  completely 
in  accord  with  all  the  ideas,  views,  and  opinions  of  the  savages 
whom  he  had  to  fight  or  control  as  was  General  Crook.  In  time 
of  campaign  this  knowledge  placed  him,  as  it  were,  in  the  secret 
councils  of  the  enemy  ;  in  time  of  peace  it  enabled  him  all  the 
more  completely  to  appreciate  the  doubts  and  misgivings  of  the 
Indians  at  the  outset  of  a  new  life,  and  to  devise  plans  by  which 
they  could  all  the  more  readily  be  brought  to  see  that  civiliza 
tion  was  something  which  all  could  embrace  without  danger  of 
extinction. 

But  while  General  Crook  was  admitted,  even  by  the  Indians,  to 
be  more  of  an  Indian  than  the  Indian  himself,  it  must  in  no  wise 
be  understood  that  he  ever  occupied  any  other  relation  than  that 
of  the  older  and  more  experienced  brother  who  was  always  ready 
to  hold  out  a  helping  hand  to  the  younger  just  learning  to  walk 
and  to  climb.  Crook  never  ceased  to  be  a  gentleman.  Much  as 
he  might  live  among  savages,  he  never  lost  the  right  to  claim 
for  himself  the  best  that  civilization  and  enlightenment  had  to 
bestow.  He  kept  up  with  the  current  of  thought  on  the  more 
important  questions  of  the  day,  although  never  a  student  in  the 
stricter  meaning  of  the  term.  His  manners  were  always  ex 
tremely  courteous,  and  without  a  trace  of  the  austerity  with 
which  small  minds  seek  to  hedge  themselves  in  from  the  ap 
proach  of  inferiors  or  strangers.  His  voice  was  always  low,  his 
conversation  easy,  and  his  general  bearing  one  of  quiet  dignity. 

He  reminded  me  more  of  Daniel  Boone  than  any  other  charac 
ter,  with  this  difference,  that  Crook,  as  might  be  expected,  had 
the  advantages  of  the  better  education  of  his  day  and  generation. 
But  he  certainly  recalled  Boone  in  many  particulars  ;  there  was 
the  same  perfect  indifference  to  peril  of  any  kind,  the  same 
coolness,  an  equal  fertility  of  resources,  the  same  inner  knowl- 


THE  NAME   "APACHE"  A  MISNOMER.  H3 

edge  of  the  wiles  and  tricks  of  the  enemy,  the  same  modesty 
and  disinclination  to  parade  as  a  hero  or  a  great  military  genius, 
or  to  obtrude  upon  public  notice  the  deeds  performed  in  obedi 
ence  to  the  promptings  of  duty. 

Such  was  Arizona,  and  such  was  General  George  Crook  when 
he  was  assigned  to  the  task  of  freeing  her  from  the  yoke  of  the 
shrewdest  and  most  ferocious  of  all  the  tribes  encountered  by 
the  white  man  within  the  present  limits  of  the  United  States. 

A  condensed  account  of  the  Apaches  themselves  would  seem 
not  to  be  out  of  place  at  this  point,  since  it  will  enable  the  reader 
all  the  more  readily  to  comprehend  the  exact  nature  of  the  opera 
tions  undertaken  against  them,  and  what  difficulties,  if  any,  were 
to  be  encountered  in  their  subjugation  and  in  their  elevation  to  a 
higher  plane  of  civilization. 

With  a  stupidity  strictly  consistent  with  the  whole  history  of 
our  contact  with  the  aborigines,  the  people  of  the  United  States 
have  maintained  a  bitter  and  an  unrelenting  warfare  against  a 
people  whose  name  was  unknown  to  them.  The  Apache  is  not 
the  Apache  ;  the  name  "  Apache  "  does  not  occur  in  the  language 
of  the  "Tinneh,"  by  which  name,  or  some  of  its  variants  as 
"Inde,"  "Dinde,"  or  something  similar,  our  Indian  prefers  to 
designate  himself  "  The  Man  ;"  he  knows  nothing,  or  did  not 
know  anything  until  after  being  put  upon  the  Keservations,  of  the 
new-fangled  title  "  Apache/'  which  has  come  down  to  us  from 
the  Mexicans.,  who  borrowed  it  from  the  Maricopas  and  others,  in 
whose  language  it  occurs  with  the  signification  of  "enemy." 

It  was  through  the  country  of  the  tribes  to  the  south  that  the 
Spaniards  first  were  brought  face  to  face  with  the  "  Tinneh  "  of 
Arizona,  and  it  was  from  these  Maricopas  and  others  that  the 
name  was  learned  of  the  desperate  fighters  who  lived  in  the  higher 
ranges  with  the  deer,  the  elk,  the  bear,  and  the  coyote. 

And  as  the  Spaniards  have  always  insisted  upon  the  use  of  a 
name  which  the  Apaches  have  as  persistently  repudiated  ;  and  as 
the  Americans  have  followed  blindly  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Oas- 
tilian,  we  must  accept  the  inevitable  and  describe  this  tribe  under 
the  name  of  the  Apaches  of  Arizona,  although  it  is  much  like 
invading  England  by  way  of  Ireland,  and  writing  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  under  the  Celtic  designation  of  the  "Sassenach/7 

The  Apache  is  the  southernmost  member  of  the  great  Tinneh 
family ,,  which  stretches  across  the  circumpolar  portion  of  the 
8 


114  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK 

American  Continent,  from  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  to  the  western 
line  of  Hudson's  Bay.  In  the  frozen  habitat  of  their  hyperbo 
rean  ancestors,  the  Tinneh,  as  all  accounts  agree,  are  perfectly 
good-natured,  lively,  and  not  at  all  hard  to  get  along  with. 

But  once  forced  out  from  the  northern  limits  of  the  lake  region 
of  British  America — the  Great  Slave,  the  Great  Bear,  and  others 
— whether  by  over-population,  failure  of  food,  or  other  cause,  the 
Tinneh  appears  upon  the  stage  as  a  conqueror,  and  as  a  diploma 
tist  of  the  first  class  ;  he  shows  an  unusual  astuteness  even  for  an 
Indian,  and  a  daring  which  secures  for  him  at  once  and  forever 
an  ascendency  over  all  the  tribes  within  reach  of  him.  This  re 
mark  will  apply  with  equal  force  to  the  Rogue  Rivers  of  Oregon, 
the  Umpquas  of  northern  California,  the  Hoopas  of  the  same 
State,  and  the  Navajoes  and  Apaches  of  New  Mexico,  Chihua 
hua  and  Sonora,  all  of  whom  are  members  of  this  great  Tinneh 
family. 

In  the  Apache  the  Spaniard,  whether  as  soldier  or  priest,  found 
a  foe  whom  no  artifice  could  terrify  into  submission,  whom  no 
eloquence  could  wean  from  the  superstitions  of  his  ancestors. 
Indifferent  to  the  bullets  of  the  arquebuses  in  the  hands  of 
soldiers  in  armor  clad,  serenely  insensible  to  the  arguments  of  the 
friars  and  priests  who  claimed  spiritual  dominion  over  all  other 
tribes,  the  naked  Apache,  with  no  weapons  save  his  bow  and 
arrows,  lance,  war-club,  knife  and  shield,  roamed  over  a  vast 
empire,  the  lord  of  the  soil — fiercer  than  the  fiercest  of  tigers, 
wilder  than  the  wild  coyote  he  called  his  brother. 

For  years  I  have  collected  the  data  and  have  contemplated 
the  project  of  writing  the  history  of  this  people,  based  not  only 
upon  the  accounts  transmitted  to  us  from  the  Spaniards  and  their 
descendants,  the  Mexicans,  but  upon  the  Apache's  own  story  as 
conserved  in  his  myths  and  traditions  ;  but  I  have  lacked  both 
the  leisure  and  the  inclination  to  put  the  project  into  execution. 
It  would  require  a  man  with  the  even-handed  sense  of  justice 
possessed  by  a  Guizot,  and  the  keen,  critical,  analytical  powers 
of  a  Gibbon,  to  deal  fairly  with  a  question  in  which  the  ferocity  of 
the  savage  Red-man  has  been  more  than  equalled  by  the  ferocity 
of  the  Christian  Caucasian;  in  which  the  occasional  treachery  of 
the  aborigines  has  found  its  best  excuse  in  the  unvarying  Punic 
faith  of  the  Caucasian  invader  ;  in  which  promises  on  each  side 
have  been  made  only  to  deceive  and  to  be  broken  ;  in  which  the 


THE  APACHE  VS.  THE  CAUCASIAN.         H5 

red  hand  of  war  has  rested  most  heavily  upon  shrieking  mother 
and  wailing  babe. 

If  from  this  history  the  Caucasian  can  extract  any  cause  of 
self-laudation  I  am  glad  of  it :  speaking  as  a  censor  who  has  read 
the  evidence  with  as  much  impartiality  as  could  be  expected  from 
one  who  started  in  with  the  sincere  conviction  that  the  only  good 
Indian  was  a  dead  Indian,  and  that  the  only  use  to  make  of  him 
was  that  of  a  fertilizer,  and  who,  from  studying  the  documents 
in  the  case,  and  listening  little  by  little  to  the  savage's  own  story, 
has  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  perhaps  Pope  Paul  III.  was 
right  when  he  solemnly  declared  that  the  natives  of  the  New 
World  had  souls  and  must  be  treated  as  human  beings,  and  ad 
mitted  to  the  sacraments  when  found  ready  to  receive  them,  I 
feel  it  to  be  my  duty  to  say  that  the  Apache  has  found  himself 
in  the  very  best  of  company  when  he  committed  any  atrocity,  it 
matters  not  how  vile,  and  that  his  complete  history,  if  it  could 
be  written  by  himself,  would  not  be  any  special  cause  of  self- 
complacency  to  such  white  men  as  believe  in  a  just  God,  who 
will  visit  the  sins  of  parents  upon  their  children  even  to  the 
third  and  the  fourth  generation. 

We  have  become  so  thoroughly  Pecksnifiian  in  our  self-lauda 
tion,  in  our  exaltation  of  our  own  virtues,  that  we  have  become 
grounded  in  the  error  of  imagining  that  the  American  savage 
is  more  cruel  in  his  war  customs  than  other  nations  of  the  earth 
have  been  ;  this,  as  I  have  already  intimated,  is  a  misconception, 
and  statistics,  for  such  as  care  to  dig  them  out,  will  prove  that  I 
am  right.  The  Assyrians  cut  their  conquered  foes  limb  from 
limb  ;  the  Israelites  spared  neither  parent  nor  child  ;  the  Romans 
crucified  head  downward  the  gladiators  who  revolted  under  Spar- 
tacus;  even  in  the  civilized  England  of  the  past  century,  the 
wretch  convicted  of  treason  was  executed  under  circumstances  of 
cruelty  which  would  have  been  too  much  for  the  nerves  of  the 
fiercest  of  the  Apaches  or  Sioux.  Instances  in  support  of  what  I 
here  assert  crop  up  all  over  the  page  of  history  ;  the  trouble  is  not 
to  discover  them,  but  to  keep  them  from  blinding  the  memory  to 
matters  more  pleasant  to  remember.  Certainly,  the  American 
aborigine  is  not  indebted  to  his  pale-faced  brother,  no  matter  of 
what  nation  or  race  he  may  be,  for  lessons  in  tenderness  and 
humanity. 

Premising  the  few  remarks  which  I  will  allow  myself  to  make 


116          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

upon  this  subject,  by  stating  that  the  territory  over  which  the 
Apache  roamed  a  conqueror,  or  a  bold  and  scarcely  resisted  raider, 
comprehended  the  whole  of  the  present  Territories  of  Arizona  and 
New  Mexico,  one  half  of  the  State  of  Texas — the  half  west  of  San 
Antonio — and  the  Mexican  states  of  Sonora  and  Chihuahua,  with 
frequent  raids  which  extended  as  far  as  Durango,  Jalisco,  and 
even  on  occasion  the  environs  of  Zacatecas,  I  can  readily  make 
the  reader  understand  that  an  area  greater  than  that  of  the  whole 
German  Empire  and  France  combined  was  laid  prostrate  under 
the  heel  of  a  foe  as  subtle,  as  swift,  as  deadly,  and  as  uncertain  as 
the  rattle-snake  or-the  mountain  lion  whose  homes  he  shared. 

From  the  moment  the  Oastilian  landed  on  the  coast  of  the 
present  Mexican  Republic,  there  was  no  such  thing  thought  of 
as  justice  for  the  American  Indian  until  the  authorities  of  the 
Church  took  the  matter  in  hand,  and  compelled  an  outward  regard 
for  the  rights  which  even  animals  have  conceded  to  them. 

Christopher  Columbus,  whom  some  very  worthy  people  are 
thinking  of  having  elevated  to  the  dignity  of  a  saint,  made  use  of 
bloodhounds  for  running  down  the  inhabitants  of  Hispaniola. 

The  expedition  of  D' Ay  lion  to  the  coast  of  Chicora,  now  known 
as  South  Carolina,  repaid  the  kind  reception  accorded  by  the 
natives  by  the  basest  treachery ;  two  ship-loads  of  the  unfortu 
nates  enticed  on  board  were  carried  off  to  work  in  the  mines  of 
the  invaders. 

Girolamo  Benzoni,  one  of  the  earliest  authors,  describes  the 
very  delightful  way  the  Spaniards  had  of  making  slaves  of  all 
the  savages  they  could  capture,  and  branding  them  with  a  red- 
hot  iron  on  the  hip  or  cheek,  so  that  their  new  owners  could 
recognize  them  the  more  readily. 

Cabeza  de  Vaca  and  his  wretched  companions  carried  no  arms, 
but  met  with  nothing  but  an  ovation  from  the  simple-minded 
and  grateful  natives,  whose  ailments  they  endeavored  to  cure  by 
prayer  and  the  sign  of  the  cross. 

Yet,  Vaca  tells  us,  that  as  they  drew  near  the  settlements  of 
their  own  countrymen  they  found  the  whole  country  in  a  tumult, 
due  to  the  efforts  the  Castilians  were  making  to  enslave  the  popu 
lace,  and  drive  them  by  fire  and  sword  to  the  plantations  newly 
established.  Humboldt  is  authority  for  the  statement  that  the 
Apaches  resolved  upon  a  war  of  extermination  upon  the  Span 
iards,  when  they  learned  that  all  their  people  taken  captive  by  the 


JOHNSON,  GLANTON  &  CO.  117 

king's  forces  had  been  driven  off,  to  die  a  lingering  death  upon 
the  sugar  plantations  of  Cuba  or  in  the  mines  of  Guanaxuato. 

Drawing  nearer  to  our  own  days,  we  read  the  fact  set  down  in 
the  clearest  and  coldest  black  and  white,  that  the  state  govern 
ments  of  Sonora  and  Chihuahua  had  offered  and  paid  rewards 
of  three  hundred  dollars  for  each  scalp  of  an  Apache  that  should 
be  presented  at  certain  designated  headquarters,  and  we  read 
without  a  tremor  of  horror  that  individuals,  clad  in  the  human 
form— men  like  the  Englishman  Johnson,  or  the  Irishman  Glan- 
ton — entered  into  contracts  with  the  governor  of  Chihuahua  to 
do  such  bloody  work. 

Johnson  was  "a  man  of  honor."  He  kept  his  word  faithfully, 
and  invited  a  large  band  of  the  Apaches  in  to  see  him  and  have 
a  feast  at  the  old  Santa  Rita  mine  in  New  Mexico — I  have  been 
on  the  spot  and  seen  the  exact  site — and  while  they  were  eating 
bread  and  meat,  suddenly  opened  upon  them  with  a  light  field- 
piece  loaded  to  the  muzzle  with  nails,  bullets,  and  scrap-iron,  and 
filled  the  court-yard  with  dead. 

Johnson,  I  say,  was  "a  gentleman,"  and  abided  by  the  terms 
of  bis  contract ;  but  Glanton  was  a  blackguard,  and  set  out  to 
kill  anything  and  everything  in  human  form,  whether  Indian 
or  Mexican.  His  first  "victory"  was  gained  over  a  band  of 
Apaches  with  whom  he  set  about  arranging  a  peace  in  northern 
Chihuahua,  not  far  from  El  Paso.  The  bleeding  scalps  were 
torn  from  the  heads  of  the  slain,  and  carried  in  triumph  to  the 
city  of  Chihuahua,  outside  of  whose  limits  the  (t  conquerors  " 
were  met  by  a  procession  of  the  governor,  all  the  leading  state 
dignitaries  and  the  clergy,  and  escorted  back  to  the  city  limits, 
where — as  we  are  told  by  Ruxton,  the  English  officer  who  trav 
elled  across  Chihuahua  on  horse-back  in  1835-1837 — the  scalps 
were  nailed  with  frantic  joy  to  the  portals  of  the  grand  cathe 
dral,  for  whose  erection  the  silver  mines  had  been  taxed  so  out 
rageously. 

Glanton,  having  had  his  appetite  for  blood  excited,  passed 
westward  across  Arizona  until  he  reached  the  Colorado  River, 
near  where  Fort  Yuma  now  stands.  There  he  attempted  to 
cross  to  the  California  or  western  bank,  but  the  Yuma  Indians, 
who  had  learned  of  his  pleasant  eccentricities  of  killing  every  one, 
without  distinction  of  age,  sex,  or  race,  who  happened  to  be  out 
on  the  trail  alone,  let  Glanton  and  his  comrades  get  a  few  yards 


118          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

into  the  river,  and  then  opened  on  them  from  an  ambush  in  the 
reeds  and  killed  the  last  one. 

And  then  there  have  been  "  Pinole  Treaties,"  in  which  the 
Apaches  have  been  invited  to  sit  down  and  eat  repasts  seasoned 
with  the  exhilarating  strychnine.  So  that,  take  it  for  all  in  all, 
the  honors  have  been  easy  so  far  as  treachery,  brutality,  cruelty, 
and  lust  have  been  concerned.  The  one  great  difference  has 
been  that  the  Apache  could  not  read  or  write  and  hand  down  to 
posterity  the  story  of  his  wrongs  as  he,  and  he  alone,  knew  them. 

When  the  Americans  entered  the  territory  occupied  or  infested 
by  the  Apaches,  all  accounts  agree  that  the  Apaches  were  friendly. 
The  statements  of  Bartlett,  the  commissioner  appointed  to  run 
the  new  boundary  line  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico, 
are  explicit  upon  this  point.  Indeed,  one  of  the  principal  chiefs 
of  the  Apaches  was  anxious  to  aid  the  new-comers  in  advancing 
farther  to  the  south,  and  in  occupying  more  of  the  territory  of 
the  Mexicans  than  was  ceded  by  the  Gadsden  purchase.  One  of 
Bartlett's  teamsters — a  Mexican  teamster  named  Jesus  Vasquez 
— causelessly  and  in  the  coldest  blood  drew  bead  upon  a  promi 
nent  Apache  warrior  and  shot  him  through  the  head.  The  Apa 
ches  did  nothing  beyond  laying  the  whole  matter  before  the 
new  commissioner,  whose  decision  they  awaited  hopefully.  Bart 
lett  thought  that  the  sum  of  thirty  dollars,  deducted  from  the 
teamster's  pay  in  monthly  instalments,  was  about  all  that  the 
young  man's  life  was  worth.  The  Apaches  failed  to  concur  in 
this  estimate,  and  took  to  the  war-path ;  and,  to  quote  the  words 
of  Bartlett,  in  less  than  forty-eight  hours  had  the  whole  coun 
try  for  hundreds  of  miles  in  every  direction  on  fire,  and  all  the 
settlers  that  were  not  killed  fleeing  for  their  lives  to  the  towns 
on  the  Rio  Grande.  A  better  understanding  was  reached  a 
few  years  after,  through  the  exertions  of  officers  of  the  stamp  of 
Ewell,  who  were  bold  in  war  but  tender  in  peace,  and  who  ob 
tained  great  influence  over  a  simple  race  which  could  respect  men 
whose  word  was  not  written  in  sand. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  of  the  Rebellion,  affairs  in  Arizona 
and  New  Mexico  became  greatly  tangled.  The  troops  were  with 
drawn,  and  the  Apaches  got  the  notion  into  their  heads  that  the 
country  was  to  be  left  to  them  and  their  long-time  enemies, 
the  Mexicans,  to  fight  for  the  mastery. 

Rafael  Pumpelly,  who  at  that  time  was  living  in  Arizona,  gives 


ARIZONA  AT   ITS  LOWEST  POINT.  H9 

a  vivid  but  horrifying  description  of  the  chaotic  condition  in 
which  affairs  were  left  by  the  sudden  withdrawal  of  the  troops, 
leaving  the  mines,  which,  in  each  case,  were  provided  with 
stores  or  warehouses  filled  with  goods,  a  prey  to  the  Apaches  who 
swarmed  down  from  the  mountains  and  the  Mexican  bandits 
who  poured  in  from  Sonora. 

There  was  scarcely  any  choice  between  them,  and  occasionally 
it  happened,  when  the  mining  superintendent  had  an  unusual 
streak  of  good  luck,  that  he  would  have  them  both  to  fight  at 
once,  as  in  Pumpelly's  own  case. 

Not  very  long  previous  to  this,  Arizona  had  received  a  most 
liberal  contingent  of  the  toughs  and  scalawags  banished  from 
San  Francisco  by  the  efforts  of  its  Vigilance  Committee,  and 
until  these  last  had  shot  each  other  to  death,  or  until  they  had 
been  poisoned  by  Tucson  whiskey  or  been  killed  by  the  Apaches, 
Arizona's  chalice  was  filled  to  the  brim,  and  the  most  mendacious 
real-estate  boomer  would  have  been  unable  to  recommend  her 
as  a  suitable  place  for  an  investment  of  capital. 

It  is  among  the  possibilities  that  the  Apaches  could  have  been 
kept  in  a  state  of  friendliness  toward  the  Americans  during  these 
troublous  days,- had  it  not  been  for  .one  of  those  accidents  which 
will  occur  to  disturb  the  most  harmonious  relations,  and  destroy 
the  effect  of  years  of  good  work.  The  Chiricahua  Apaches,  living 
close  to  what  is  now  Fort  Bowie,  were  especially  well  behaved,  and 
old-timers  have  often  told  me  that  the  great  chief,  Cocheis,  had 
the  wood  contract  for  supplying  the  "  station  "  of  the  Southern 
Overland  Mail  Company  at  that  point  with  fuel.  The  Finals 
and  the  other  bands  still  raided  upon  the  villages  of  northern 
Mexico ;  in  fact,  some  of  the  Apaches  have  made  their  home  in 
the  Sierra  Madre,  in  Mexico ;  and  until  General  Crook  in  person 
led  a  small  expedition  down  there,  and  pulled  the  last  one  of 
them  out,  it  was  always  understood  that  there  was  the  habitat 
and  the  abiding  place  of  a  very  respectable  contingent — so  far  as 
numbers  were  concerned — of  the  tribe. 

A  party  of  the  Final  Apaches  had  engaged  in  trade  with  a  party 
of  Mexicans  close  to  Fort  Bowie— and  it  should  be  understood 
that  there  was  both  trade  and  war  with  the  Castilian,  and,  worst 
of  all,  what  was  stolen  from  one  Mexican  found  ready  sale  to 
another,  the  plunder  from  Sonora  finding  its  way  into  the  hands 
of  the  settlers  in  Chihuahua,  or,  if  taken  up  into  our  country,  sell- 


120          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

ing  without  trouble  to  the  Mexicans  living  along  the  Kio  Grande 
— and  during  the  trade  had  drunk  more  whiskey,  or  mescal, 
than  was  good  for  them ;  that  is  to  say,  they  had  drunk  more 
than  one  drop,  and  had  then  stolen  or  led  away  with  them  a  little 
boy,  the  child  of  an  Irish  father  and  a  Mexican  mother,  whom 
the  Mexicans  demanded  back. 

The  commanding  officer,  a  lieutenant  of  no  great  experience, 
sent  for  the  brother  of  Cocheis,  and  demanded  the  return  of  the 
babe ;  the  reply  was  made,  and,  in  the  light  of  years  elapsed, 
the  reply  is  known  to  have  been  truthful,  that  the  Chiricahuas 
knew  nothing  of  the  kidnapped  youngster  and  therefore  could 
not  restore  him.  The  upshot  of  the  affair  was  that  Cocheis's 
brother  was  killed  "while  resisting  arrest."  In  Broadway,  if  a 
man  "resist  arrest,"  he  is  in  danger  of  having  his  head  cracked 
by  a  policeman's  club ;  but  in  the  remoter  West,  he  is  in  great 
good  luck,  sometimes,  if  he  don't  find  himself  riddled  with 
bullets. 

It  is  an  excellent  method  of  impressing  an  Indian  with  the 
dignity  of  being  arrested;  but  the  cost  of  the  treatment  is  gener 
ally  too  great  to  make  it  one  that  can  fairly  be  recommended  for 
continuous  use.  In  the  present  instance,  Cocheis,  who  had  also 
been  arrested,  but  had  cut  his  way  out  of  the  back  of  the  tent  in 
which  he  was  confined,  went  on  the  war-path,  and  for  the  next 
ten  years  made  Arizona  and  New  Mexico — at  least  the  south 
ern  half  of  them — and  the  northern  portions  of  Sonora  and  Chi 
huahua,  about  the  liveliest  places  on  God's  footstool. 

The  account,  if  put  down  by  a  Treasury  expert,  would  read 
something  like  this  : 

DR. 

"The  United  States  to  Cocheis, 
"For  one  brother,, killed  '  while  resisting  arrest."1 

OB. 

"  By  ten  thousand  (10,000)  men,  women,  and  children  killed, 
wounded,  or  tortured  to  death,  scared  out  of  their  senses  or 
driven  out  of  the  country,  their  wagon  and  pack-trains  run 
off  and  destroyed,  ranchos  ruined,  and  all  industrial  develop 
ment  stopped." 

If  any  man  thinks  that  I  am  drawing  a  fancy  sketch,  let  him 
write  to  John  H.  Marion,  Pete  Kitchen,  or  any  other  old  pioneer 


MISSIONARY  WORK.  121 

whose  residence  in  either  Arizona  or  New  Mexico  has  been  suffi 
ciently  long  to  include  the  major  portion  of  the  time  that  the 
whole  force  of  the  Apache  nation  was  in  hostilities. 

I  have  said  that  the  exertions  of  the  missionaries  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  ordinarily  so  successful  with  the  aborigines  of 
our  Continent,  were  nugatory  with  the  Apaches  of  Arizona ;  I 
repeat  this,  at  the  same  time  taking  care  to  say  that  unremitting 
effort  was  maintained  to  open  up  communication  with  the  various 
bands  nearest  to  the  pueblos  which,  from  the  year  1580,  or  there 
about,  had  been  brought  more  or  less  completely  under  the  sway 
of  the  Franciscans. 

With  some  of  these  pueblos,  as  at  Picuris,  the  Apaches  had 
intermarried,  and  with  others  still,  as  at  Pecos,  they  carried  on 
constant  trade,  and  thus  afforded  the  necessary  loop-hole  for 
the  entrance  of  zealous  missionaries.  The  word  of  God  was 
preached  to  them,  and  in  several  instances  bands  were  coaxed  to 
abandon  their  nomadic  and  predatory  life,  and  settle  down  in 
permanent  villages.  The  pages  of  writers,  like  John  Gilmary 
Shea,  fairly  glow  with  the  recital  of  the  deeds  of  heroism  per 
formed  in  this  work ;  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  perceptible 
traces  of  it  are  still  to  be  found  among  the  Navajo  branch  of 
the  Apache  family,  which  had  acquired  the  peach  and  the  apri 
cot,  the  sheep  and  the  goat,  the  cow,  the  donkey  and  the  horse, 
either  from  the  Franciscans  direct,  or  else  from  the  pueblo 
refugees  who  took  shelter  with  them  in  1680  at  the  time  of  the 
Great  Rebellion,  in  which  the  pueblos  of  New  Mexico  arose  en 
masse  and  threw  off  the  yoke  of  Spain  and  the  Church,  all  for 
twelve  years  of  freedom,  and  the  Moquis  threw  it  off  forever.  • 
Arizona — the  Apache  portion  of  it — remained  a  sealed  book  to  the 
friars,  and  even  the  Jesuits,  in  the  full  tide  of  their  career  as 
successful  winners  of  souls,  were  held  at  arm's  length. 

There  is  one  point  in  the  mental  make-up  of  the  Apache 
especially  worthy  of  attention,  and  that  is  the  quickness  with 
which  he  seizes  upon  the  salient  features  of  a  strategetical  com 
bination,  and  derives  from  them  all  that  can  possibly  be  made  to 
inure  to  his  own  advantage.  For  generations  before  the  invasion 
by  the  Castilians — that  is  to  say,  by  the  handful  of  Spaniards, 
and  the  colony  of  Tlascaltec  natives  and  mulattoes,  whom  Espejo 
and  Onate  led  into  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Grande  between  1580 
and  1590 — the  Apache  had  been  the  unrelenting  foe  of  the 


122          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Pueblo  tribes ;  but  the  moment  that  the  latter  determined  to 
throw  off  the  galling  yoke  which  had  been  placed  upon  their 
necks,  the  Apache  became  their  warm  friend,,  and  received  the 
fugitives  in  the  recesses  of  the  mountains,  where  he  could  bid 
defiance  to  the  world.  Therefore,  we  can  always  depend  upon 
finding  in  the  records  of  the  settlements  in  the  Rio  Grande 
valley,  and  in  Sonora  and  Chihuahua,  that  every  revolt  or  at 
tempted  revolt,  of  the  Pueblos  or  sedentary  tribes  meant  a  cor 
responding  increase  in  the  intensity  of  the  hostilities  prosecuted 
by  the  Apache  nomads. 

In  the  revolts  of  1680,  as  well  as  those  of  1745  and  1750,  the 
Apache  swept  the  country  far  to  the  south.  The  great  revolt  of 
the  Pueblos  was  the  one  of  1680,  during  which  they  succeeded 
in  driving  the  governor  and  the  surviving  Spanish  colonists 
from  Santa  F6  down  to  the  present  town  of  Juarez  (formerly  El 
Paso  del  Norte),  several  hundred  miles  nearer  Mexico.  At  that 
place  Otermin  made  a  stand,  but  it  was  fully  twelve  years  before 
the  Spanish  power  was  re-established  through  the  efforts  of 
Vargas  and  Cruzate.  The  other  two  attempts  at  insurrection 
failed  miserably,  the  second  being  merely  a  local  one  among  the 
Papagoes  of  Arizona.  It  may  be  stated,  in  round  terms,  that 
from  the  year  1700  until  they  were  expelled  from  the  territory  of 
Mexico,  the  exertions  of  the  representatives  of  the  Spanish  power 
in  "New  Spain "  were  mainly  in  the  direction  of  reducing  the 
naked  Apache,  who  drove  them  into  a  frenzy  of  rage  and  despair 
by  his  uniform  success. 

The  Tarahumaris,  living  in  the  Sierra  Madre  south  of  the 
present  international  boundary,  were  also  for  a  time  a  thorn  in 
the  side  of  the  European  ;  but  they  submitted  finally  to  the 
instructions  of  the  missionaries  who  penetrated  into  their  coun 
try,  and  who,  on  one  occasion  at  least,  brought  them  in  from  the 
war-path  before  they  had  fired  a  shot. 

The  first  reference  to  the  Apaches  by  name  is  in  the  account 
of  Espejo's  expedition — 1581 — where  they  will  be  found  de 
scribed  as  the  "  Apichi,"  and  from  that  time  down  the  Span 
iards  vie  with  each  other  in  enumerating  the  crimes  and  the 
atrocities  of  which  these  fierce  Tinneh  have  been  guilty.  Tor- 
quemada  grows  eloquent  and  styles  them  the  Pharaohs  ("Fa- 
raones")  who  have  persecuted  the  chosen  people  of  Israel 
(meaning  the  settlers  on  the  Rio  Grande). 


PERSONAL   APPEARANCE  OF   THE  APACHES.  123 

Yet  all  the  while  that  this  black  cloud  hung  over  the  fair  face 
of  nature— raiding,  killing,  robbing,  carrying  women  and  chil 
dren  into  captivity— Jesuit  and  Franciscan  vied  with  each  other 
in  schemes  for  getting  these  savages  under  their  control. 

Father  Eusebio  Kino,  of  whom  I  have  already  spoken,  formu 
lated  a  plan  in  or  about  1710  for  establishing,  or  re-establishing, 
a  mission  in  the  villages  of  the  Moquis,  from  which  the  Francis 
cans  had  been  driven  in  the  great  revolt  and  to  which  they  had 
never  permanently  returned.  Questions  of  ecclesiastical  juris 
diction  seem  to  have  had  something  to  do  with  delaying  the 
execution  of  the  plan,  which  was  really  one  for  the  spiritual  and 
temporal  conquest  of  the  Apache,  by  moving  out  against  him 
from  all  sides,  and  which  would  doubtless  have  met  with  good 
results  had  not  Kino  died  at  the  mission  of  Madalena  a  few 
months  after.  Father  Sotomayor,  another  Jesuit,  one  of  Kino's 
companions,  advanced  from  the  "  Pimeria,"  or  country  of  the 
Pimas,  in  which  Tucson  has  since  grown  up,  to  and  across  the 
Salt  River  on  the  north,  in  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  begin 
negotiations  with  the  Apaches. 

The  overthrow  of  the  Spanish  power  afforded  another  oppor 
tunity  to  the  Apache  to  play  his  cards  for  all  they  were  worth  ; 
and  for  fully  fifty  years  he  was  undisputed  master  of  North 
western  Mexico — the  disturbed  condition  of  public  affairs  south 
of  the  Rio  Grande,  the  war  between  the  United  States  and  the 
Mexican  Republic,  and  our  own  Civil  War,  being  additional 
factors  in  the  equation  from  which  the  Apache  reaped  the  fullest 
possible  benefit. 

It  is  difficult  to  give  a  fair  description  of  the  personal  appear 
ance  of  the  Apaches,  because  there  is  no  uniform  type  to  which 
reference  can  be  made  ;  both  in  physique  and  in  facial  lineaments 
there  seem  to  be  two  distinct  classes  among  them.  Many  of  the 
tribes  are  scarcely  above  medium  size,  although  they  look  to  be 
still  smaller  from  their  great  girth  of  chest  and  width  of  shoul 
ders.  Many  others  are  tall,  well-made,  and  straight  as  arrows. 
There  are  long-headed  men,  with  fine  brows,  aquiline  noses,  well- 
chiselled  lips  and  chins,  and  flashing  eyes  ;  and  there  are  others 
with  the  flat  occiput,  flat  nose,  open  nostrils,  thin,  everted  lips, 
and  projecting  chins. 

One  general  rule  may  be  laid  down  :  the  Apache,  to  whichever 


124          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

type  he  may  belong,  is  strongly  built,  straight,  sinewy,  well- 
muscled,  extremely  strong  in  the  lower  limbs,  provided  with  a 
round  barrel  chest,  showing  good  lung  power,  keen,  intelligent- 
looking  eyes,  good  head,  and  a  mouth  showing  determination, 
decision,  and  cruelty.  He  can  be  made  a  firm  friend,  but  no 
mercy  need  be  expected  from  him  as  an  enemy. 

He  is  a  good  talker,  can  argue  well  from  his  own  standpoint, 
cannot  be  hoodwinked  by  sophistry  or  plausible  stories,  keeps  his 
word  very  faithfully,  and  is  extremely  honest  in  protecting  prop 
erty  or  anything  placed  under  his  care.  No  instance  can  be 
adduced  of  an  Apache  sentinel  having  stolen  any  of  the  govern 
ment  or  other  property  he  was  appointed  to  guard.  The  Chiri- 
cahua  and  other  Apache  scouts,  who  were  enlisted  to  carry  on 
General  Crook's  campaign  against  "  Geronimo/'  remained  for 
nearly  one  week  at  Fort  Bowie,  and  during  that  time  made 
numbers  of  purchases  from  the  post-trader,  Mr.  Sydney  R. 
De  Long.  These  were  all  on  credit,  as  the  scouts  were  about 
leaving  with  the  gallant  and  lamented  Crawford  on  the  expedi 
tion  which  led  to  his  death.  Some  months  after,  as  I  wished  to 
learn  something  definite  in  regard  to  the  honesty  of  this  much- 
maligned  people,  I  went  to  Mr.  De  Long  and  asked  him  to  tell 
me  what  percentage  of  bad  debts  he  had  found  among  the 
Apaches.  He  examined  his  books,  and  said  slowly  :  "  They 
have  bought  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty  dollars'  worth,  and 
they  have  paid  me  back  every  single  cent." 

"  And  what  percentage  of  bad  debts  do  you  find  among  your 
white  customers  ?  " 

A  cynical  smile  and  a  pitying  glance  were  all  the  reply  vouch 
safed. 

Around  his  own  camp-fire  the  Apache  is  talkative,  witty,  fond 
of  telling  stories,  and  indulging  in  much  harmless  raillery.  He 
is  kind  to  children,  and  I  have  yet  to  see  the  first  Indian  child 
struck  for  any  cause  by  either  parent  or  relative.  The  children 
are  well  provided  with  games  of  different  kinds,  and  the  buck 
skin  doll-babies  for  the  little  girls  are  often  very  artistic  in 
make-up.  The  boys  have  fiddles,  flutes,  and  many  sorts  of  diver 
sion,  but  at  a  very  early  age  are  given  bows  and  arrows,  and 
amuse  themselves  as  best  they  can  with  hunting  for  birds  and 
small  animals.  They  have  sham-fights,  wrestling  matches,  foot 
races,  games  of  shinny  and  "  muskha,"  the  last  really  a  series  of 


THE  APACHES  POOR   HORSEMEN.  135 

lance-throws  along  the  ground,  teaching  the  youngster  steadiness 
of  aim  and  keeping  every  muscle  fully  exercised.  They  learn  at 
a  very  early  age  the  names  and  attributes  of  all  the  animals  and 
plants  about  them  ;  the  whole  natural  kingdom,  in  fact,  is  under 
stood  as  far  as  their  range  of  knowledge  in  such  matters  extends. 
They  are  inured  to  great  fatigue  and  suffering,  to  deprivation 
of  water,  and  to  going  without  food  for  long  periods. 

Unlike  the  Indians  of  the  Plains,  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
they  rarely  become  good  horsemen,  trusting  rather  to  their  own 
muscles  for  advancing  upon  or  escaping  from  an  enemy  in  the 
mountainous  and  desert  country  with  which  they,  the  Apaches, 
are  so  perfectly  familiar.  Horses,  mules,  and  donkeys,  when 
captured,  were  rarely  held  longer  than  the  time  when  they  were 
needed  to  be  eaten  ;  the  Apache  preferred  the  meat  of  these  ani 
mals  to  that  of  the  cow,  sheep,  or  goat,  although  all  the  last- 
named  were  eaten.  Pork  and  fish  were  objects  of  the  deepest 
repugnance  to  both  men  and  women ;  within  the  past  twenty 
years — since  the  Apaches  have  been  enrolled  as  scouts  and  police 
at  the  agencies — this  aversion  to  bacon  at  least  has  been  to  a 
great  extent  overcome  ;  but  no  Apache  would  touch  fish  until 
G-eronimo  and  the  men  with  him  were  incarcerated  at  Fort  Pick- 
ens,  Florida,  when  they  were  persuaded  to  eat  the  pompano  and 
other  delicious  fishes  to  be  found  in  Pensacola  Bay. 

When  we  first  became  apprised  of  this  peculiarity  of  the  Apache 
appetite,  we  derived  all  the  benefit  from  it  that  we  could  in  driv 
ing  away  the  small  boys  who  used  to  hang  around  our  mess-canvas 
in  the  hope  of  getting  a  handful  of  sugar,  or  a  piece  of  cracker, 
of  which  all  hands,  young  and  old,  were  passionately  fond.  All 
we  had  to  do  was  to  set  a  can  of  salmon  or  lobster  in  the  mid 
dle  of  the  canvas,  and  the  sight  of  that  alone  would  drive  away 
the  bravest  Apache  boy  that  ever  lived  ;  he  would  regard  as  un 
canny  the  mortals  who  would  eat  such  vile  stuff.  They  could  not 
understand  what  was  the  meaning  of  the  red-garmented  Mephis- 
tophelian  figure  on  the  can  of  devilled  ham,  and  called  that  dish 
"  Chidin-bitzi  "  (ghost  meat),  because  they  fancied  a  resemblance 
to  their  delineations  of  their  gods  or  spirits  or  ghosts. 

The  expertness  of  the  Apache  in  all  that  relates  to  tracking 
either  man  or  beast  over  the  rocky  heights,  or  across  the  inter 
minable  sandy  wastes  of  the  region  in  which  he  makes  his  home, 
has  been  an  occasion  of  astonishment  to  all  Caucasians  who  have 


126          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

had  the  slightest  acquaintance  with  him.  He  will  follow  through 
grass,  over  sand  or  rock,  or  through  the  chapparal  of  scrub  oak, 
up  and  down  the  flanks  of  the  steepest  ridges,  traces  so  faint  that 
to  the  keenest-eyed  American  they  do  not  appear  at  all. 

Conversely,  he  is  fiendishly  dexterous  in  the  skill  with  which 
he  conceals  his  own  line  of  march  when  a  pursuing  enemy  is  to  be 
thrown  off  the  track.  No  serpent  can  surpass  him  in  cunning  ; 
he  will  dodge  and  twist  and  bend  in  all  directions,  boxing  the 
compass,  doubling  like  a  fox,  scattering  his  party  the  moment  a 
piece  of  rocky  ground  is  reached  over  which  it  would,  under  the 
best  circumstances,  be  difficult  to  follow.  Instead  of  moving  in 
file,  his  party  will  here  break  into  skirmishing  order,  covering  a 
broad  space  and  diverging  at  the  most  unexpected  moment  from 
the  primitive  direction,  and  not  perhaps  reuniting  for  miles. 
Pursuit  is  retarded  and  very  frequently  baffled.  The  pursuers 
must*hold  on  to  the  trail,  or  all  is  lost.  There  must  be  no  guess 
work.  Following  a  trail  is  like  being  on  a  ship  :  so  long  as  one  is 
on  shipboard,  he  is  all  right ;  but  if  he  once  go  overboard,  he 
is  all  wrong.  So  with  a  trail :  to  be  a  mile  away  from  it  is  fully  as 
bad  as  being  fifty,  if  it  be  not  found  again.  In  the  meantime 
the  Apache  raiders,  who  know  full  well  that  the  pursuit  must 
slacken  for  a  while,  have  reunited  at  some  designated  hill,  or 
near  some  spring  or  water  "  tank,"  and  are  pushing  across  the 
high  mountains  as  fast  as  legs  harder  than  leather  can  carry 
them.  If  there  be.  squaws  with  the  party,  they  carry  all  plunder 
on  their  backs  in  long,  conical  baskets  of  their  own  make,  unless 
they  have  made  a  haul  of  ponies,  in  which  case  they  sometimes 
ride,  and  at  all  times  use  the  animals  to  pack. 

At  the  summit  of  each  ridge,  concealed  behind  rocks  or  trees, 
a  few  picked  men,  generally  not  more  than  two  or  three,  will 
remain  waiting  for  the  approach  of  pursuit ;  when  the  tired 
cavalry  draw  near,  and  begin,  dismounted,  the  ascent  of  the 
mountain,  there  are  always  good  chances  for  the  Apaches  to  let 
them  have  half  a  dozen  well-aimed  shots — just  enough  to  check 
the  onward  movement,  and  compel  them  to  halt  and  close  up, 
and,  while  all  this  is  going  on,  the  Apache  rear-guard,  whether 
in  the  saddle  or  on  foot,  is  up  and  away,  as  hard  to  catch  as  the 
timid  quail  huddling  in  the  mesquite. 

Or  it  may  so  happen  the  Apache  prefers,  for  reasons  best 
known  to  himself,  to  await  the  coming  of  night,  when  he  will 


THE  SYSTEM  OF  SIGNALLING.  137 

sneak  in  upon  the  herd  and  stampede  it,  and  set  the  soldiery  on 
foot,  or  drive  a  few  arrows  against  the  sentinels,  if  he  can  discern 
where  they  may  be  moving  in  the  gloom. 

All  sorts  of  signals  are  made  for  the  information  of  other 
parties  of  Apaches.  At  times,  it  is  an  inscription  or  pictograph 
incised  in  the  smooth  bark  of  a  sycamore ;  at  others,  a  tracing 
upon  a  smooth-faced  rock  under  a  ledge  which  will  protect  it 
from  the  elements  ;  or  it  may  be  a  knot  tied  in  the  tall  sacaton 
or  in  the  filaments  of  the  yucca  ;  or  one  or  more  stones  placed  in 
the  crotch  of  a  limb,  or  a  sapling  laid  against  another  tree,  or  a 
piece  of  buckskin  carelessly  laid  over  a  branch.  All  these,  placed 
as  agreed  upon,  afford  signals  to  members  of  their  own  band,  and 
only  Apaches  or  savages  with  perceptions  as  keen  would  detect 
their  presence. 

When  information  of  some  important  happening  is  to  be  com 
municated  to  a  distance  and  at  once,  and  the  party  is  situated 
upon  the  summit  of  a  mountain  chain  or  in  other  secure  position, 
a  fire  is  lighted  of  the  cones  of  the  resinous  pine,  and  the  smoke 
is  instantaneously  making  its  way  far  above  the  tracery  of  the 
foliage.  A  similar  method  is  employed  when  they  desire  to 
apprise  kinsfolk  of  the  death  of  relatives ;  in  the  latter  case  the 
brush  "  jacal"  of  the  deceased— the  whole  village,  in  fact — is  set 
on  fire  and  reduced  to  ashes. 

The  Apache  was  a  hard  foe  to  subdue,  not  because  he  was  full 
of  wiles  and  tricks  and  experienced  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  art 
of  war,  but  because  he  had  so  few  artificial  wants  and  depended 
almost  absolutely  upon  what  his  great  mother — Nature — stood 
ready  to  supply.  Starting  out  upon  the  war-path,  he  wore 
scarcely  any  clothing  save  a  pair  of  buckskin  moccasins  reaching 
to  mid-thigh  and  held  to  the  waist  by  a  string  of  the  same  mate 
rial  ;  a  piece  of  muslin  encircling  the  loins  and  dangling  down 
behind  about  to  the  calves  of  the  legs,  a  war-hat  of  buckskin  sur 
mounted  by  hawk  and  eagle  plumage,  a  rifle  (the  necessary  ammu 
nition  in  belt)  or  a  bow,  with  the  quiver  filled  with  arrows  reputed 
to  be  poisonous,  a  blanket  thrown  over  the  shoulders,  a  water 
tight  wicker  jug  to  serve  as  a  canteen,  and  perhaps  a  small 
amount  of  "jerked"  meat,  or  else  of  "  pinole"  or  parched  corn- 
meal. 

That  is  all,  excepting  his  sacred  relics  and  "  medicine,"  for  now 
is  the  time  when  the  Apache  is  going  to  risk  no  failure  by  neglect- 


128          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

ing  the  precaution  needed  to  get  all  his  ghosts  and  gods  on  his 
side.  He  will  have  sacred  cords  of  buckskin  and  shells,  sacred 
sashes  ornamented  with  the  figures  of  the  powers  invoked  to 
secure  him  success  ;  possibly,  if  he  be  very  opulent,  he  may  have 
bought  from  a  " medicine  man"  a  sacred  shirt,  which  differs  from 
the  sash  merely  in  being  bigger  and  in  having  more  figures ;  and 
a  perfect  menagerie  of  amulets  and  talismans  and  relics  of  all 
kinds,  medicine  arrows,  pieces  of  crystal,  petrified  wood,  little 
bags  of  the  sacred  meal  called  "hoddentin,"  fragments  of  wood 
which  has  been  struck  by  lightning,  and  any  and  all  kinds  of 
trash  which  his  fancy  or  his  fears  have  taught  him  are  endowed 
with  power  over  the  future  and  the  supernatural.  Like  the 
Roman  he  is  not  content  with  paying  respect  to  his  own  gods  ; 
he  adopts  those  of  all  the  enemies  who  yield  to  his  power.  In 
many  and  many  an  instance  I  have  seen  dangling  from  the 
neck,  belt  or  wrist  of  an  Apache  warrior  the  cross,  the  medals, 
the  Agnus  Dei  or  the  rosary  of  the  Mexican  victims  whom  his 
rifle  or  arrow  had  deprived  of  life. 

To  his  captives  the  Apache  was  cruel,  brutal,  merciless  ;  if  of 
full  age,  he  wasted  no  time  with  them,  unless  on  those  rare  occa 
sions  when  he  wanted  to  extract  some  information  about  what  his 
pursuers  were  doing  or  contemplated  doing,  in  which  case  death 
might  be  deferred  for  a  few  brief  hours.  Where  the  captive  was 
of  tender  years,  unable  to  get  along  without  a  mother's  care,  it 
was  promptly  put  out  of  its  misery  by  having  its  brains  dashed 
against  a  convenient  rock  or  tree  ;  but  where  it  happened  that  the 
raiders  had  secured  boys  or  girls  sufficiently  old  to  withstand 
the  hardships  of  the  new  life,  they  were  accepted  into  the  hand 
and  treated  as  kindly  as  if  Apache  to  the  manner-born. 

It  was  often  a  matter  of  interest  to  me  to  note  the  great  amount 
of  real,  earnest,  affectionate  good -will  that  had  grown  up  between 
the  Mexican  captives  and  the  other  members  of  the  tribe ;  there 
were  not  a  few  of  these  captives  who,  upon  finding  a  chance,  made 
their  escape  back  to  their  own  people,  but  in  nearly  all  cases  they 
have  admitted  to  me  that  their  life  among  the  savages  was  one  of 
great  kindness,  after  they  had  learned  enough  of  the  language  to 
understand  and  be  understood. 

Many  of  these  captives  have  risen  to  positions  of  influence 
among  the  Apaches.  There  are  men  and  women  like  "Severi- 
ano,"  "  Conception,"  "Antonio,"  "Jesus  Maria,"  "Victor," 


WILD   TURKEYS  AND  JACK-RABBITS.  129 

"Francesca,"  "Maria,"  and  others  I  could  name,  who  have 
amassed  property  and  gained  influence  among  the  people  who 
led  them  into  slavery. 

A  brief  account  of  the  more  prominent  of  foods  entering  into 
the  dietary  of  the  Apache  may  not  be  out  of  place,  as  it  will 
serve  to  emphasize  my  remarks  concerning  his  ability  to  practi 
cally  snap  his  fingers  at  any  attempts  to  reduce  him  to  starvation 
by  the  ordinary  methods.  The  same  remarks,  in  a  minor  degree, 
apply  to  all  our  wilder  tribes.  Our  Government  had  never  been 
able  to  starve  any  of  them  until  it  had  them  placed  on  a  reserva 
tion.  The  Apache  was  not  so  well  provided  with  meat  as  he 
might  have  been,  because  the  general  area  of  Arizona  was  so  arid 
and  barren  that  it  could  not  be  classed  as  a  game  country  ;  never 
theless,  in  the  higher  elevations  of  the  Sierra  Mogollon  and  the 
San  Francisco,  there  were  to  be  found  plenty  of  deer,  some  elk, 
and,  in  places  like  the  Grand  Canon  of  the  Colorado,  the  Canon 
of  the  Rio  Salado,  and  others,  there  were  some  Rocky  Mountain 
sheep  ;  down  on  the  plains  or  deserts,  called  in  the  Spanish 
idiom  "playas"  or  "beaches,"  there  were  quite  large  herds  of 
antelope,  and  bears  were  encountered  in  all  the  high  and  rocky 
places. 

Wild  turkeys  flock  in  the  timbered  ranges,  while  on  the  lower 
levels,  in  the  thickets  of  sage-brush  and  mesquite,  quail  are 
numerous  enough  to  feed  Moses  and  all  the  Israelites  were  they 
to  come  back  to  life  again.  The  jack-rabbit  is  caught  by  being 
"rounded  up/'  and  the  field-rat  adds  something  to  the  meat 
supply.  The  latter  used  to  be  caught  in  a  very  peculiar  way. 
The  rat  burrowed  under  a  mesquite  or  other  bush,  and  cast  up 
in  a  mound  all  the  earth  excavated  from  the  spot  selected  for 
its  dwelling ;  and  down  through  this  cut  or  bored  five  or  six 
entrances,  so  that  any  intruder,  such  as  a  snake,  would  be  unable 
to  bar  the  retreat  of  the  inmates,  who  could  seek  safety  through 
some  channel  other  than  the  one  seized  upon  by  the  invader. 

The  Apache  was  perfectly  well  acquainted  with  all  this,  and 
laid  his  plans  accordingly.  Three  or  four  boys  would  surround 
each  habitation,  and,  while  one  took  station  at  the  main  entrance 
and  laid  the  curved  end  of  his  "  rat-stick"  across  its  mouth,  the 
others  devoted  themselves  to  prodding  down  with  their  sticks 
into  the  other  channels.  The  rats,  of  course,  seeing  one  hole 
undisturbed,  would  dart  up  that,  and,  when  each  had  reached 
9 


130          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

the  opening,  he  would  rest  for  a  moment,  with  his  body  just  half 
out,  while  he  scanned  the  horizon  to  see  where  the  enemy  was. 
That  was  the  supreme  moment  for  both  rat  and  Apache,  and, 
with  scarcely  any  percentage  of  errors  worth  mentioning,  the 
Apache  was  nearly  always  successful.  He  would  quickly  and 
powerfully  draw  the  stick  towards  him  and  break  the  back  of 
the  poor  rodent,  and  in  another  second  have  it  dangling  from 
his  belt.  One  gash  of  the  knife  would  eviscerate  the  little  ani 
mal,  and  then  it  was  thrown  upon  a  bed  of  hot  coals,  which  speed 
ily  burned  off  all  the  hair  and  cooked  it  as  well. 

The  above  completed  the  list  of  meats  of  which  use  was  made, 
unless  we  include  the  horses,  cows;  oxen,  donkeys,  sheep,  and 
mules  driven  off  from  Mexicans  and  Americans,  which  were  all 
eaten  as  great  delicacies.  Some  few  of  the  meats  prepared  by 
the  Apache  cooks  are  palatable,  and  I  especially  remember  their 
method  of  baking  a  deer's  head  surrounded  and  covered  by  hot 
embers.  They  roast  a  side  of  venison  to  perfection  over  a  bed  of 
embers,  and  broil  liver  and  steak  in  a  savory  manner ;  but  their 
bonne  louche,  when  they  can  get  it,  is  an  unborn  fawn,  which 
they  believe  to  be  far  more  delicious  than  mule  meat. 

The  mainstay  of  the  Apache  larder  was  always  the  mescal,  or 
agave — the  American  aloe — a  species  of  the  so-called  century 
plant.  This  was  cut  down  by  the  squaws  and  baked  in  "mescal- 
pits,"  made  for  all  the  world  like  a  clam-bake.  There  would 
be  first  laid  down  a  course  of  stones,  then  one  of  wet  grass,  if 
procurable,  then  the  mescal,  then  another  covering  of  grass,  and 
lastly  one  of  earth.  All  over  Arizona  old  "  mescal-pits"  are  to 
be  found,  as  the  plant  was  always  cooked  as  close  as  possible 
to  the  spot  where  it  was  cut,  thus  saving  the  women  unnecessary 
labor. 

Three  days  are  required  to  bake  mescal  properly,  and,  when 
done,  it  has  a  taste  very  much  like  that  of  old-fashioned  molasses 
candy,  although  its  first  effects  are  those  of  all  the  aloe  family. 
The  central  stalk  is  the  best  portion,  as  the  broad,  thorny 
leaves,  although  yielding  a  sweet  mass,  are  so  filled  with  filament 
that  it  is  impossible  to  chew  them,  and  they  must  be  sucked. 

The  fruit  of  the  Spanish  bayonet,  when  dried,  has  a  very 
pleasant  taste,  not  unlike  that  of  a  fig.  It  can  also  be  eaten  in 
the  raw  or  pulpy  state,  but  will  then,  so  the  Apaches  tell  me, 
often  bring  on  fever. 


THE  APACHE   LARDER.  131 

Of  the  bread  made  from  mesquite  beans,  as  of  the  use  made 
of  the  fruit  of  the  giant  cactus,  mention  has  already  been  made 
in  the  beginning  of  this  work.  Sweet  acorns  are  also  used  freely. 

The  "nopal,"  or  Indian  fig,  supplies  a  fruit  which  is  very 
good,  and  is  much  liked  by  the  squaws  and  children,  but  it  is  so 
covered  with  a  beard  of  spines,  that  until  I  had  seen  some  of  the 
squaws  gathering  it,  I  could  not  see  how  it  could  be  so  generally 
employed  as  an  article  of  food.  They  would  take  in  one  hand  a 
small  wooden  fork  made  for  the  purposej,  and  with  that  seize  the 
fruit  of  the  plant  ;  with  the  other  hand,  a  brush  made  of  the 
stiff  filaments  of  the  sacaton  was  passed  rapidly  over  the  spines, 
knocking  them  all  off  much  sooner  than  it  has  taken  to  write 
this  paragraph  on  the  typewriter.  It  requires  no  time  at  all  to 
fill  a  basket  with  them,  and  either  fresh  or  dried  they  are  good 
food. 

The  seeds  of  the  sunflower  are  parched  and  ground  up  with 
corn-meal  or  mesquite  beans  to  make  a  rich  cake. 

There  are  several  varieties  of  seed-bearing  grasses  of  impor 
tance  to  the  Apache.  The  squaws  show  considerable  dexterity 
in  collecting  these  ;  they  place  their  conical  baskets  under  the 
tops  of  the  stalks,  draw  these  down  until  they  incline  over 
the  baskets,  and  then  hit  them  a  rap  with  a  small  stick,  which 
causes  all  the  seed  to  fall  into  the  receptacle  provided. 

In  damp,  elevated  swales  the  wild  potatoes  grow  plentifully. 
These  are  eaten  by  both  Apaches  and  Navajoes,  who  use  with 
them  a  pinch  of  clay  to  correct  acridity.  A  small  black  walnut 
is  eaten,  and  so  is  a  wild  cherry.  The  wild  strawberry  is  too  rare 
to  be  noticed  in  this  treatise,  but  is  known  to  the  Apaches. 
Corn  was  planted  in  small  areas  by  the  Sierra  Blanca  band  when 
ever  undisturbed  by  the  scouting  parties  of  their  enemies.  After 
General  Crook  had  conquered  the  whole  nation  and  placed  the 
various  bands  upon  reservations,  he  insisted  upon  careful  atten 
tion  being  paid  to  the  planting  of  either  corn  or  barley,  and  im 
mense  quantities  of  each  were  raised  and  sold  to  the  United 
States  Government  for  the  use  of  its  horses  and  mules.  Of  this 
a  full  description  will  follow  in  due  time. 

The  Apaches  have  a  very  strict  code  of  etiquette,  as  well  as 
morals,  viewed  from  their  own  standpoint.  It  is  considered  very 
impolite  for  a  stranger  to  ask  an  Apache  his  name,  and  an 
Apache  will  never  give  it,  but  will  allow  the  friend  at  his  side 


132          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

to  reply  for  him ;  the  names  of  the  dead  are  never  referred  to, 
and  it  is  an  insult  to  speak  of  them  by  name.  Yet,  after  a  good 
long  while  has  elapsed,  the  name  of  a  warrior  killed  in  battle  or 
distinguished  in  any  way  may  be  conferred  upon  his  grandchild 
or  some  other  relative. 

No  Apache,  no  matter  what  his  standing  may  be  in  society, 
will  speak  to  or  of  his  mother-in-law — a  courtesy  which  the  old 
lady  reciprocates.  One  of  the  funniest  incidents  I  can  remember 
was  seeing  a  very  desperate  Ohiricahua  Apache,  named  "Ka-e- 
tennay/'  who  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  boldest  and  bravest  men 
in  the  whole  nation,  trying  to  avoid  running  face  to  face  against 
his  mother-in-law ;  he  hung  on  to  stones,  from  which  had  he 
fallen  he  would  have  been  dashed  to  pieces  or  certainly  broken 
several  of  his  limbs.  There  are  times  at  the  Agencies  when 
Indians  have  to  be  counted  for  rations — even  then  the  rule  is 
not  relaxed.  The  mother-in-law  will  take  a  seat  with  her  son- 
in-law  and  the  rest  of  the  family  ;  but  a  few  paces  removed,  and 
with  her  back  turned  to  them  all ;  references  to  her  are  by  signs 
only — she  is  never  mentioned  otherwise. 

When  an  Apache  young  man  begins  to  feel  the  first  promptings 
of  love  for  any  particular  young  damsel,  he  makes  known  the 
depth  and  sincerity  of  his  affection  by  presenting  the  young 
woman  with  a  calico  skirt,  cut  and  sewed  by  his  own  fair  fingers. 
The  Apache  men  are  good  sewers,  and  the  Navajo  men  do  all  the 
knitting  for  their  tribe,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  men  of 
the  Zunis. 

Only  ill-bred  Americans  or  Europeans,  who  have  never  had  any 
"raising/'  would  think  of  speaking  of  the  Bear,  the  Snake,  the 
Lightning  or  the  Mule,  without  employing  the  reverential  prefix 
" Ostin,"  meaning  "Old  Man/'  and  equivalent  to  the  Koman  title 
"  Senator."  But  you  can't  teach  politeness  to  Americans,  and 
the  Apache  knows  it  and  wastes  no  time  or  vain  regrets  on  the 
defects  of  their  training. 

"You  must  stop  talking  about  bear/'  said  a  chief  to  me  one 
night  at  the  camp-fire,  "  or  we  '11  not  have  a  good  hunt." 

In  the  same  manner  no  good  will  come  from  talking  about 
owls,  whose  hooting,  especially  if  on  top  of  a  "jacal,"  or  in  the 
branches  of  a  tree  under  which  people  are  seated  or  sleeping, 
means  certain  death.  I  have  known  of  one  case  where  our  brav 
est  scouts  ran  away  from  a  place  where  an  owl  had  perched  and 


PRACTICE  OF  MEDICINE  MEN.  133 

begun  its  lugubrious  ditty,  and  at  another  time  the  scouts,  as  we 
were  about  entering  the  main  range  of  the  Sierra  Madre,  made  a 
great  fuss  and  would  not  be  pacified  until  one  of  the  whites  of 
our  command  had  released  a  little  owl  which  he  had  captured. 
This  same  superstition  obtained  with  equal  force  among  the 
Romans,  and,  indeed,  there  are  few  if  any  spots  in  the  world, 
where  the  owl  has  not  been  regarded  as  the  messenger  of  death 
or  misfortune. 

When  an  Apache  starts  out  on  the  war-path  for  the  first  four 
times,  he  will  refrain  from  letting  water  touch  his  lips ;  he  will 
suck  it  through  a  small  reed  or  cane  which  he  carries  for  the 
purpose.  Similarly,  he  will  not  scratch  his  head  with  the  naked 
fingers,  but  resorts  to  a  small  wooden  scratcher  carried  with  the 
drinking-tube.  Traces  of  these  two  superstitions  can  also  be 
found  in  other  parts  of  the  globe.  There  are  all  kinds  of  super 
stitions  upon  every  conceivable  kind  of  subject,  but  there  are  too 
many  of  them  to  be  told  in  extenso  in  a  book  treating  of  military 
campaigning. 

As  might  be  inferred,  the  "  medicine  men  "  wield  an  amount 
of  influence  which  cannot  be  understood  by  civilized  people  who 
have  not  been  brought  into  intimate  relations  with  the  aborigines 
in  a  wild  state.  The  study  of  the  religious  life  and  thought  of 
our  savage  tribes  has  always  been  to  me  of  the  greatest  interest 
and  of  supreme  importance ;  nothing  has  been  so  neglected  by 
the  Americans  as  an  examination  into  the  mental  processes 
by  which  an  Indian  arrives  at  his  conclusions,  the  omens,  augu 
ries,  hopes  and  fears  by  which  he  is  controlled  and  led  to  one 
extreme  or  the  other  in  all  he  does,  or  a  study  of  the  leaders  who 
keep  him  under  control  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave.  Certainly, 
if  we  are  in  earnest  in  our  protestations  of  a  desire  to  elevate  and 
enlighten  the  aborigine — which  I  for  one  most  sincerely  doubt — 
then  we  cannot  begin  too  soon  to  investigate  all  that  pertains  to 
him  mentally  as  well  as  physically.  Looking  at  the  subject  in 
the  strictest  and  most  completely  practical  light,  we  should  save 
millions  of  dollars  in  expenditure,  and  many  valuable  lives,  and 
not  be  making  ourselves  a  holy  show  and  a  laughing-stock  for  the 
rest  of  the  world  by  massing  troops  and  munitions  of  war  from 
the  four  corners  of  the  country  every  time  an  Indian  medicine 
man  or  spirit  doctor  announces  that  he  can  raise  the  dead.  Until 
we  provide  something  better,  the  savage  will  rely  upon  his  own 


134          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

religious  practices  to  help  him  through  all  difficulties,  and  his 
medicine  man  will  be  called  upon  to  furnish  the  singing,  drum 
ming  and  dancing  that  may  be  requisite  to  cure  the  sick  or  avert 
disease  of  any  kind. 

The  <(  cures "  of  the  medicine  men  are  effected  generally  by 
incantations,  the  sprinkling  of  hoddentin  or  sacred  powder,  sweat- 
baths,  and  at  times  by  suction  of  the  arm,  back  or  shoulder  in 
which  pain  may  have  taken  up  its  abode.  If  they  fail,  as  they 
very  often  do,  then  they  cast  about  and  pretty  soon  have  indi 
cated  some  poor  old  crone  as  the  maleficent  obstacle  to  the  suc 
cess  of  their  ministrations,  and  the  miserable  hag  is  very  soon 
burnt  or  stoned  to  death. 

The  influence  quietly  exerted  upon  tribal  councils  by  the  women 
of  the  Apache  and  Navajo  tribes  has  been  noted  by  many 
observers. 

I  will  curtail  my  remarks  upon  the  manners  and  customs  of 
the  Apaches  at  this  point,  as  there  will  necessarily  be  many  other 
allusions  to  them  before  this  narrative  shall  be  completed.  One 
thing  more  is  all  I  care  to  say.  The  endurance  of  their  war 
riors  while  on  raids  was  something  which  extorted  expressions 
of  wonder  from  all  white  men  who  ever  had  anything  to  do  with 
their  subjugation.  Seventy-five  miles  a  day  was  nothing  at  all 
unusual  for  them  to  march  when  pursued,  their  tactics  being  to 
make  three  or  four  such  marches,  in  the  certainty  of  being  able  to 
wear  out  or  throw  off  the  track  the  most  energetic  and  the  most 
intelligent  opponents. 

Their  vision  is  so  keen  that  they  can  discern  movements  of 
troops  or  the  approach  of  wagon-trains  for  a  distance  of  thirty 
miles,  and  so  inured  are  they  to  the  torrid  heats  of  the  burning 
sands  of  Arizona  south  of  the  Gila  and  Northern  Mexico,  that 
they  seem  to  care  nothing  for  temperatures  under  which  the 
American  soldier  droops  and  dies.  The  Apache,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  would  strip  himself  of  everything  and  travel  naked,  which 
the  civilized  man  would  not  do  ;  but  the  amount  of  clothing 
retained  by  the  soldiers  was  too  small  to  be  considered  a  very 
important  factor. 

If  necessary,  the  Apache  will  go  without  water  for  as  long  a 
time  almost  as  a  camel.  A  small  stone  or  a  twig  inserted  in 
the  mouth  will  cause  a  more  abundant  flow  of  saliva  and  assuage 
his  thirst.  He  travels  with  fewer  "impedimenta"  than  any 


THE  GAMBLING  HABIT.  135 

other  tribe  of  men  in  the  world,  not  even  excepting  the  Aus 
tralians,  but  sometimes  he  allows  himself  the  luxury  or  comfort 
of  a  pack  of  cards,  imitated  from  those  of  the  Mexicans,  and 
made  out  of  horse-hide,  or  a  set  of  the  small  painted  sticks  with 
which  to  play  the  game  of  "  Tze-chis,"  or,  on  occasions  when  an 
unusually  large  number  of  Apaches  happen  to  be  travelling 
together,  some  one  of  the  party  will  be  loaded  with  the  hoops 
and  poles  of  the  "  mushka ;"  for,  be  it  known,  that  the  Apache, 
like  savages  everywhere,  and  not  a  few  civilized  men,  too,  for  that 
matter,  is  so  addicted  to  gambling  that  he  will  play  away  the 
little  he  owns  of  clothing  and  all  else  he  possesses  in  the  world. 

Perhaps  no  instance  could  afford  a  better  idea  of  the  degree  of 
rugged  ness  the  Apaches  attain  than  the  one  coming  under  my 
personal  observation  in  the  post  hospital  of  Fort  Bowie,  in  1886, 
where  one  of  our  Apache  scouts  was  under  treatment  for  a  gun 
shot  wound  in  the  thigh.  The  moment  Mr.  Charles  Lummis 
and  myself  approached  the  bedside  of  the  young  man,  he  asked 
for  a  "  tobacco-shmoke,"  which  he  received  in  the  form  of  a 
bunch  of  cigarettes.  One  of  these  he  placed  in  his  inouth,  and, 
drawing  a  match,  coolly  proceeded  to  strike  a  light  on  his  foot, 
which,  in  its  horny,  callous  appearance,  closely  resembled  the 
back  of  a  mud  tortoise. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CROOK'S  FIRST  MOVEMENTS  AGAINST  THE  APACHES — THE  SCOUTS — 
MIRAGES — THE  FLORAL  WEALTH  OF  ARIZONA — RUNNING  IN 
UPON  THE  HOSTILE  APACHES — AN  ADVENTURE  WITH  BEARS 
— CROOK'S  TALK  WITH  THE  APACHES — THE  GREAT  MOGOLLON 
PLATEAU — THE  TONTO  BASIN — MONTEZUMA'S  WELL — CLIFF 
DWELLINGS — THE  PACK  TRAINS. 

HOW  it  all  came  about  I  never  knew;  no  one  ever  knew. 
There  were  no  railroads  and  no  telegraphs  in  those  days, 
and  there  were  no  messages  flashed  across  the  country  telling  just 
what  was  going  to  be  done  and  when  and  how.  But  be  all  that  as  it 
may,  before  any  officer  or  man  knew  what  had  happened,  and  while 
the  good  people  in  Tucson  were  still  asking  each  other  whether 
the  new  commander  had  a  "  policy  "  or  not — he  had  not,  but 
that's  neither  here  nor  there — we  were  out  on  the  road,  five  full 
companies  of  cavalry,  and  a  command  of  scouts  and  trailers 
gathered  together  from  the  best  available  sources,  and  the  cam 
paign  had  begun. 

Rumors  had  reached  Tucson — from  what  source  no  one  could 
tell — that  the  Government  would  not  permit  Crook  to  carry  on 
offensive  operations  against  the  Apaches,  and  there  were  officers 
in  the  Department,  some  even  in  our  own  command,  who  were 
inclined  to  lend  an  ear  to  them.  They  were  enthusiasts,  how 
ever,  who  based  their  views  upon  the  fact  that  "  Loco "  and 
"  Victorio,"  prominent  chiefs  of  the  Warm  Springs  band  over  in 
New  Mexico,  had  been  ever  since  September  of  the  year  1869,  a 
period  of  not  quite  two  years,  encamped  within  sight  of  old  Fort 
Craig,  New  Mexico,  on  the  Rio  Grande,  waiting  to  hear  from 
the  Great  Father  in  regard  to  having  a  Reservation  established 
for  them  where  they  and  their  children  could  live  at  peace. 

The  more  conservative  sadly  shook  their  heads.  They  Tcnew 
that  there  had  not  been  time  for  the  various  documents  and 
reports  in  the  case  to  make  the  round  of  the  various  bureaus  in 


END  OF  CROOK'S  FIRST  MOVEMENT.  137 

Washington,  and  lead  to  the  formulation  of  any  scheme  in  the 
premises.  It  used  to  take  from  four  to  six  months  for  such  a 
simple  thing  as  a  requisition  for  rations  or  clothing  to  produce 
any  effect,  and,  of  course,  it  would  seem  that  the  caring  for  a 
iarge  body  would  consume  still  longer  time  for  deliberation. 
But,  no  matter  what  Washington  officialism  might  do  or  not  do, 
General  Crook  was  not  the  man  to  delay  at  his  end  of  the  line. 
We  were  on  our  way  to  Fort  Bowie,  in  the  eastern  section  of 
Arizona,  leaving  Tucson  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  July  11, 
1871,  and  filing  out  on  the  mail  road  where  the  heat  before  ten 
o'clock  attained  110°  Fahrenheit  in  the  shade,  as  we  learned 
from  the  party  left  behind  in  Tucson  to  bring  up  the  mail. 

As  it  happened,  Crook's  first  movement  was  stopped  ;  but  not 
until  it  had  almost  ended  and  been,  what  it  was  intended  to  be, 
a  "practice  march"  of  the  best  kind,  in  which  officers  and  men 
could  get  acquainted  with  each  other  and  with  the  country  in 
which  at  a  later  moment  they  should  have  to  work  in  earnest. 
Our  line  of  travel  lay  due  east  one  hundred  and  ten  miles  to 
old  Fort  Bowie,  thence  north  through  the  mountains  to  Camp 
Apache,  thence  across  an  unmapped  region  over  and  at  the  base 
of  the  great  Mogollon  range  to  Camp  Verde  and  Prescott  on  the 
west.  In  all,  some  six  hundred  and  seventy-five  miles  were  trav 
elled,  and  most  of  it  being  in  the  presence  of  a  tireless  enemy, 
made  it  the  best  kind  of  a  school  of  instruction.  The  first  man 
up  in  the  morning,  the  first  to  be  saddled,  the  first  ready  for  the 
road,  was  our  indefatigable  commander,  who,  in  a  suit  of  canvas, 
and  seated  upon  a  good  strong  mule,  with  his  rifle  carried  across 
the  pommel  of  his  saddle,  led  the  way. 

With  the  exception  of  Colonel  Guy  V.  Henry,  Captain  W.  W. 
Robinson  of  the  Seventh  Cavalry,  and  myself,  none  of  the  officers 
of  that  scout  are  left  in  the  army.  Major  Ross,  our  capable 
quartermaster,  is  still  alive  and  is  now  a  citizen  of  Tucson. 
Crook,  Stanwood,  Smith,  Meinhold,  Mullan,  and  Brent  are  dead, 
and  Henry  has  had  such  a  close  call  for  his  life  (at  the  Eosebud, 
June  17,  1876)  that  I  am  almost  tempted  to  include  him  in  the 
list. 

The  detachment  of  scouts  made  a  curious  ethnographical  col 
lection.  There  were  Navajoes,  Apaches,  Opatas,  Yaquis,  Pueb 
los,  Mexicans,  Americans,  and  half-breeds  of  any  tribe  one  could 
name.  It  was  an  omnium  gatherum — the  best  that  could  be 


138          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

summoned  together  at  the  time ;  some  were  good,  and  others 
were  good  for  nothing.  They  were  a  fair  sample  of  the  social 
driftwood  of  the  Southwest,  and  several  of  them  had  been  con 
cerned  in  every  revolution  or  counter-revolution  in  northwestern 
Mexico  since  the  day  that  Maximilian  landed.  Manuel  Duran, 
the  old  Apache,  whom  by  this  time  I  knew  very  intimately, 
couldn't  quite  make  it  all  out.  He  had  never  seen  so  many 
troops  together  before  without  something  being  in  the  wind,  and 
what  it  meant  he  set  about  unravelling.  He  approached,  the 
morning  we  arrived  at  Sulphur  Springs,  and  in  the  most  confi 
dential  manner  asked  me  to  ride  off  to  one  side  of  the  road  with 
him,  which  I,  of  course,  did. 

"  You  are  a  friend  of  the  new  Comandante,"  he  said,  "and  I 
am  a  friend  of  yours.  You  must  tell  me  all." 

"  But,  Manuel,  I  do  not  fully  understand  what  you  are  driving 
at." 

"Ah,  mi  teniente,  you  cannot  fool  me.  I  am  too  old  ;  I  know 
all  about  such  things." 

"  But,  tell  me,  Manuel,  what  is  this  great  mystery  you  wish 
to  know  ?  " 

Manuel's  right  eyelid  dropped  just  a  trifle,  just  enough  to  be 
called  a  wink,  and  he  pointed  with  his  thumb  at  General  Crook 
in  advance.  His  voice  sank  to  a  whisper,  but  it  was  still  per 
fectly  clear  and  plain,  as  he  asked  :  "  When  is  the  new  Coman 
dante  going  to  pronounce  ?  " 

I  didn't  explode  nor  roll  out  of  the  saddle,  although  it  was 
with  the  greatest  difficulty  I  kept  from  doing  either  ;  but  the 
idea  of  General  Crook,  with  five  companies  of  cavalry  and  one 
of  scouts,  revolting  against  the  general  Government  and  issu 
ing  a  "pronunciamiento,"  was  too  much  for  my  gravity,  and  I 
yelled.  Often  in  succeeding  years  I  have  thought  of  that  talk 
with  poor  Manuel,  and  never  without  a  chuckle. 

We  learned  to  know  each  other,  we  learned  to  know  Crook,  we 
learned  to  know  the  scouts  and  guides,  and  tell  which  of  them 
were  to  be  relied  upon,  and  which  were  not  worth  their  salt ;  we 
learned  to  know  a  great  deal  about  packers,  pack-mules  and  pack 
ing,  which  to  my  great  surprise  I  found  to  be  a  science  and  such 
a  science  that  as  great  a  soldier  as  General  Crook  had  not  thought 
it  beneath  his  genius  to  study  it ;  and,  applying  the  principles 
of  military  discipline  to  the  organization  of  trains,  make  them 


LEARNING  THE  COUNTRY.  139 

as  nearly  perfect  as  they  ever  have  been  or  can  be  in  our  army 
history.  Last,  but  not  least,  we  learned  the  country — the  general 
direction  of  the  rivers,  mountains,  passes,  where  was  to  be  found 
the  best  grazing,  where  the  most  fuel,  where  the  securest  shelter. 
Some  of  the  command  had  had  a  little  experience  of  the  same 
kind  previously,  but  now  we  were  all  in  attendance  at  a  per 
ambulating  academy,  and  had  to  answer  such  questions  as  the 
general  commanding  might  wish  to  propound  on  the  spot. 

Side  scouts  were  kept  out  constantly,  and  each  officer,  upon  his 
return,  was  made  to  tell  all  he  had  learned  of  the  topography  and 
of  Indian  "  sign*"  There  was  a  great  plenty  of  the  latter,  but 
none  of  it  very  fresh  ;  in  the  dim  distance,  on  the  blue  mountain- 
tops,  we  could  discern  at  frequent  intervals  the  smoke  sent  up  in 
signals  by  the  Apaches  ;  often,  we  were  at  a  loss  to  tell  whether 
it  was  smoke  or  the  swift- whirling  "  trebillon  "  of  dust,  carrying 
off  in  its  uncanny  embrace  the  spirit  of  some  mighty  chief.  While 
we  slowly  marched  over  "playas"  of  sand,  without  one  drop  of 
water  for  miles,  we  were  tantalized  by  the  sight  of  cool,  pellucid 
lakelets  from  which  issued  water  whose  gurgle  and  ripple  could 
almost  be  heard,  but  the  illusion  dissipated  as  we  drew  nearer 
and  saw  that  the  mirage-fiend  had  been  mocking  our  thirst  with 
spectral  waters. 

Our  commanding  general  showed  himself  to  be  a  man  who 
took  the  deepest  interest  in  everything  we  had  to  tell,  whether  it 
was  of  peccaries  chased  off  on  one  side  of  the  road,  of  quail  flushed 
in  great  numbers,  of  the  swift-walking,  long-tailed  road-runner — 
the  "  paisano  "  or  "  chapparal  cock,"  of  which  the  Mexicans  relate 
that  it  will  imprison  the  deadly  rattler  by  constructing  around 
its  sleeping  coils  a  fence  of  cactus  spines  ;  of  tarantulas  and  centi 
pedes  and  snakes — possibly,  some  of  the  snake-stories  of  Arizona 
may  have  been  a  trifle  exaggerated,  but  then  we  had  no  fish,  and 
a  man  must  have  something  upon  which  to  let  his  imagination 
have  full  swing ;  of  badgers  run  to  their  holes  ;  of  coyotes  raced 
to  death ;  of  jackass-rabbits  surrounded  and  captured ;  and  all 
the  lore  of  plant  and  animal  life  in  which  the  Mexican  border 
is  so  rich.  Nothing  was  too  insignificant  to  be  noted,  nothing 
too  trivial  to  be  treasured  n|)  in  our  memories;  such  was  the 
lesson  taught  during  our  moments  of  conversation  with  General 
Crook.  The  guides  and  trailers  soon  found  that  although  they 
who  had  been  born  and  brought  up  in  that  vast  region  could  tell 


140          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Crook  much,  they  could  never  tell  him  anything  twice,  while  as 
for  reading  signs  on  the  trail  there  was  none  of  them  his  superior. 

At  times  we  would  march  for  miles  through  a  country  in  which 
grew  only  the  white-plumed  yucca  with  trembling,  serrated  leaves; 
again,  mescal  would  fill  the  hillsides  so  thickly  that  one  could 
almost  imagine  that  it  had  been  planted  purposely;  or  we  passed 
along  between  masses  of  the  dust-laden,  ghostly  sage-brush,  or 
close  to  the  foul-smelling  joints  of  the  "  hediondilla."  The  floral 
wealth  of  Arizona  astonished  us  the  moment  we  had  gained  the 
higher  elevations  of  the  Mogollon  and  the  other  ranges.  Arizona 
will  hold  a  high  place  in  any  list  that  may  be  prepared  in  this 
connection ;  there  are  as  many  as  twenty  and  thirty  different 
varieties  of  very  lovely  flowers  and  blossoms  to  be  plucked  within 
a  stoned-throw  of  one's  saddle  after  reaching  camp  of  an  even 
ing, — phloxes,  marguerites,  chrysanthemums,  verbenas,  golden- 
rod,  sumach,  columbines,  delicate  ferns,  forget-me-nots,  and  many 
others  for  which  my  very  limited  knowledge  of  botany  furnishes 
no  name.  The  flowers  of  Arizona  are  delightful  in  color,  but  they 
yield  no  perfume,  probably  on  account  of  the  great  dryness  of 
the  atmosphere. 

As  for  grasses  one  has  only  to  say  what  kind  he  wants,  and  lo  ! 
it  is  at  his  feet — from  the  coarse  sacaton  which  is  deadly  to  animals 
except  when  it  is  very  green  and  tender  ;  the  dainty  mesquite, 
the  bunch,  and  the  white  and  black  grama,  succulent  and  nutri 
tious.  But  I  am  speaking  of  the  situations  where  we  would  make 
camp,  because,  as  already  stated,  there  are  miles  and  miles  of  land 
purely  desert,  and  clothed  only  with  thorny  cacti  and  others  of 
that  ilk.  I  must  say,  too,  that  the  wild  grasses  of  Arizona  always 
seemed  to  me  to  have  but  slight  root  in  the  soil,  and  my  observa 
tion  is  that  the  presence  of  herds  of  cattle  soon  tears  them  up  and 
leaves  the  land  bare. 

If  the  marching  over  the  deserts  had  its  unpleasant  features, 
certainly  the  compensation  offered  by  the  camping  places  in  the 
caflons,  by  limpid  streams  of  rippling  water,  close  to  the  grateful 
foliage  of  cottonwood,  sycamore,  ash,  or  walnut ;  or,  in  the  moun 
tains,  the  pine  and  juniper,  and  sheltered  from  the  sun  by  walls 
of  solid  granite,  porphyry  or  basalt,  was  a  most  delightful  antith 
esis,  and  one  well  worthy  of  the  sacrifices  undergone  to  attain 
it.  Strong  pickets  were  invariably  posted,  as  no  risks  could  be 
run  in  that  region  ;  we  were  fortunate  to  have  just  enough  evi- 


PROXIMITY  OF  THE  ENEMY.  141 

dence  of  the  close  proximity  of  the  Apaches  to  stimulate  all  to 
keep  both  eyes  open. 

"F"  troop  of  the  Third  Cavalry,  to  which  I  belonged,  had 
the  misfortune  to  give  the  alarm  to  a  large  band  of  Chiricahua 
Apaches  coming  down  the  Sulphur  Springs  Valley  from  Sonora, 
with  a  herd  of  ponies  or  cattle  ;  we  did  not  have  the  remotest  idea 
that  there  were  Indians  in  the  country,  not  having  seen  the 
faintest  sign,  when  all  of  a  sudden  at  the  close  of  a  night  march, 
very  near  where  the  new  post  of  Camp  Grant  has  since  been 
erected  on  the  flank  of  the  noble  Sierra  Bonita  or  Mount  Graham, 
we  came  upon  their  fires  with  the  freshly  slaughtered  beeves  un 
divided,  and  the  blood  still  warm  ;  but  our  advance  had  alarmed 
the  enemy,  and  they  had  moved  off,  scattering  as  they  departed. 

Similarly,  Robinson  I  think  it  was,,  came  so  close  upon  the 
heels  of  a  party  of  raiders  that  they  dropped  a  herd  of  fifteen 
or  twenty  "burros"  with  which  they  had  just  come  up  from 
the  Mexican  border.  Our  pack-trains  ran  in  upon  a  band  of 
seven  bears  in  the  Aravaypa  caflon  which  scared  the  mules  almost 
out  of  their  senses,  but  the  packers  soon  laid  five  of  the  ursines 
low  and  wounded  the  other  two  which,  however,  escaped  over  the 
rough,  dangerous  rocks. 

There  were  sections  of  country  passed  over  which  fairly  reeked 
with  the  baleful  malaria,  like  the  junction  of  the  San  Carlos  and 
the  Gila.  There  were  others  along  which  for  miles  and  miles 
could  be  seen  nothing  but  lava,  either  in  solid  waves,  or  worse 
yet,  in  "  nigger-head  "  lumps  of  all  sizes.  There  were  mountain 
ranges  with  flanks  hidden  under  a  solid  matting  of  the  scrub- 
oak,  and  others  upon  whose  summits  grew  dense  forests  of  grace 
ful  pines,  whose  branches,  redolent  with  balsamic  odors,  screened 
from  the  too  fierce  glow  of  the  noonday  sun.  There  were  broad 
stretches  of  desert,  where  the  slightest  movement  raised  clouds  of 
dust  which  would  almost  stifle  both  men  and  beasts ;  and  gloomy 
ravines  and  startling  canons,  in  whose  depths  flowed  waters  as 
swift  and  clear  and  cool  as  any  that  have  ever  rippled  along  the 
pages  of  poetry. 

Camp  Apache  was  reached  after  a  march  and  scout  of  all  the 
intermediate  country  and  a  complete  familiarization  with  the 
course  of  all  the  streams  passed  over  en  route.  Nature  had  been 
more  than  liberal  in  her  apportionment  of  attractions  at  this 
point,  and  there  are  truly  few  fairer  scenes  in  the  length  and 


142          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

breadth  of  our  territory.  The  post,  still  in  the  rawest  possible 
state  and  not  half-constructed,  was  situated  upon  a  gently  sloping 
mesa,  surrounded  by  higher  hills  running  back  to  the  plateaux 
which  formed  the  first  line  of  the  Mogollon  range.  Grass  was  to 
be  had  in  plenty,  while,  as  for  timber,  the  flanks  of  every  eleva 
tion,  as  well  as  the  summits  of  the  mountains  themselves,  were 
covered  with  lofty  pine,  cedar,  and  oak,  with  a  sprinkling  of  the 
"  madrofio,"  or  mountain  mahogany. 

Two  branches  of  the  Sierra  Blanca  River  unite  almost  in  front 
of  the  camp,  and  supply  all  the  water  needed  for  any  purpose, 
besides  being  stocked  fairly  well  with  trout,  a  fish  which  is  rare 
in  other  sections  of  the  Territory.  Hunting  was  very  good,  and 
the  sportsman  could  find,  with  very  slight  trouble,  deer,  bear,  elk, 
and  other  varieties  of  four-footed  animals,  with  wild  turkey  and 
quail  in  abundance.  In  the  vicinity  of  this  lovely  site  lived  a 
large  number  of  the  Apaches,  under  chiefs  who  were  peaceably 
disposed  towards  the  whites — men  like  the  old  Miguel,  Eski- 
tistsla,  Pedro,  Pitone,  Alchise,  and  others,  who  expressed  them 
selves  as  friendly,  and  showed  by  their  actions  the  sincerity  of 
their  avowals.  They  planted  small  farms  with  corn,  gathered 
the  wild  seeds,  hunted,  and  were  happy  as  savages  are  when 
unmolested.  Colonel  John  Green,  of  the  First  Cavalry,  was  in 
command,  with  two  troops  of  his  own  regiment  and  two  compa 
nies  of  the  Twenty*third  Infantry.  Good  feeling  existed  between 
the  military  and  the  Indians,  and  the  latter  seemed  anxious  to 
put  themselves  in  "  the  white  man's  road." 

General  Crook  had  several  interviews  with  Miguel  and  the 
others  who  came  in  to  see  him,  and  to  them  he  explained  his 
views.  To  my  surprise  he  didn't  have  any  "policy,"  in  which 
respect  he  differed  from  every  other  man  I  have  met,  as  all  seem 
to  have  "  policies "  about  the  management  of  Indians,  and  the 
less  they  know  the  more  "policy"  they  seem  to  keep  in  stock. 
Crook's  talk  was  very  plain  ;  a  child  could  have  understood 
every  word  he  said.  He  told  the  circle  of  listening  Indians  that 
he  had  not  come  to  make  war,  but  to  avoid  it  if  possible.  Peace 
was  the  best  condition  in  which  to  live,  and  he  hoped  that  those 
who  were  around  him  would  see  that  peace  was  not  only  prefera 
ble,  but  essential,  and  not  for  themselves  alone,  but  for  the  rest 
of  their  people  as  well.  The  white  people  were  crowding  in  all 
over  the  Western  country,  and  soon  it  would  be  impossible  for 


CROOK'S   "LONG  TALK."  143 

any  one  to  live  upon  game  ;  it  would  be  driven  away  or  killed  off. 
Far  better  for  every  one  to  make  up  his  mind  to  plant  and  to 
raise  horses,  cows,  and  sheep,  and  make  his  living  in  that  way ; 
his  animals  would  thrive  and  increase  while  he  slept,  and  in  less 
than  no  time  the  Apache  would  be  wealthier  than  the  Mexican. 
So  long  as  the  Apache  behaved  himself  he  should  receive  the 
fullest  protection  from  the  troops,  and  no  white  man  should  be 
allowed  to  do  him  harm  ;  but  so  long  as  any  fragment  of  the  tribe 
kept  out  on  the  war-path,  it  would  be  impossible  to  afford  all  the 
protection  to  the  well-disposed  that  they  were  entitled  to  receive, 
as  bad  men  could  say  that  it  was  not  easy  to  discriminate  between 
those  who  were  good  and  those  who  were  bad.  Therefore,  he 
wished  to  ascertain  for  himself  just  who  were  disposed  to  remain 
at  peace  permanently  and  who  preferred  to  continue  in  hostility. 
He  had  no  desire  to  punish  any  man  or  woman  for  any  acts  of 
the  past.  He  would  blot  them  all  out  and  begin  over  again.  It 
was  no  use  to  try  to  explain  how  the  war  with  the  whites  had 
begun.  All  that  he  cared  to  say  was,  that  it  must  end,  and  end 
at  once.  He  would  send  out  to  all  the  bands  still  in  the  moun 
tains,  and  tell  them  just  the  same  thing.  He  did  not  intend  to 
tell  one  story  to  one  band  and  another  to  another  ;  but  to  all  the 
same  words,  and  it  would  be  well  for  all  to  listen  with  both  ears. 
If  every  one  came  in  without  necessitating  a  resort  to  bloodshed 
he  should  be  very  glad  ;  but,  if  any  refused,  then  he  should 
expect  the  good  men  to  aid  him  in  running  down  the  bad  ones. 
That  was  the  way  the  white  people  did  ;  if  there  were  bad  men 
in  a  certain  neighborhood,  all  the  law-abiding  citizens  turned  out 
to  assist  the  officers  of  the  law  in  arresting  and  punishing  those 
who  would  not  behave  themselves.  He  hoped  that  the  Apaches 
would  see  that  it  was  their  duty  to  do  the  same.  He  hoped  to  be 
able  to  find  work  for  them  all.  It  was  by  work,  and  by  work 
only,  that  they  could  hope  to  advance  and  become  rich. 

He  wanted  them  always  to  tell  him  the  exact  truth,  as  he 
should  never  say  anything  to  them  which  was  not  true  ;  and  he 
hoped  that  as  they  became  better  acquainted,  they  would  always 
feel  that  his  word  could  be  relied  on.  He  would  do  all  in  his 
power  for  them,  but  would  never  make  them  a  promise  he  could 
.not  carry  out.  There  was  no  good  in  such  a  manner  of  doing, 
and  bad  feeling  often  grew  up  between  good  friends  through 
misunderstandings  in  regard  to  promises  not  kept.  He  would 


144          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

make  no  such  promises  ;  and  as  the  way  in  which  they  might 
remember  a  thing  might  happen  to  be  different  from  the  way  in 
which  he  remembered  it,  he  would  do  all  he  could  to  prevent 
misunderstandings,  by  having  every  word  he  said  to  them  put 
down  in  black  and  white  on  paper,  of  which,  if  they  so  desired, 
they  could  keep  a  copy.  When  men  were  afraid  to  put  their 
words  on  paper,  it  looked  as  if  they  did  not  mean  half  what  they 
said.  He  wanted  to  treat  the  Apache  just  the  same  as  he  would 
treat  any  other  man — as  a  man.  He  did  not  believe  in  one  kind 
of  treatment  for  the  white  and  another  for  the  Indian.  All 
should  fare  alike  ;  but  so  long  as  the  Indian  remained  ignorant 
of  our  laws  and  language  it  was  for  his  own  good  that  the  troops 
remained  with  him,  and  he  must  keep  within  the  limits  of  the 
Keservations  set  apart  for  him.  He  hoped  the  time  would  soon 
come  when  the  children  of  the  Apaches  would  be  going  to  school, 
learning  all  the  white  men  had  to  teach  to  their  own  children, 
and  all  of  them,  young  or  old,  free  to  travel  as  they  pleased  all 
over  the  country,  able  to  work  anywhere,  and  not  in  fear  of  the 
white  men  or  the  white  men  of  them.  Finally,  he  repeated  his 
urgent  request  that  every  effort  should  be  made  to  spread  these 
views  among  all  the  others  who  might  still  be  out  in  the  moun 
tains,  and  to  convince  them  that  the  safest  and  best  course  for  all 
to  adopt  was  that  of  peace  with  all  mankind.  After  a  reasonable 
time  had  been  given  for  all  to  come  in,  he  intended  to  start  out 
in  person  and  see  to  it  that  the  last  man  returned  to  the  Reser 
vations  or  died  in  the  mountains. 

To  all  this  the  Apaches  listened  with  deep  attention,  at  inter 
vals  expressing  approbation  after  their  manner  by  heavy  grunts 
and  the  utterance  of  the  monosyllable  "Inju"  (good). 

The  Apaches  living  in  the  vicinity  of  Camp  Apache  are  of 
purer  Tinneh  blood  than  those  bands  which  occupied  the  western 
crest  of  the  long  Mogollon  plateau,  or  the  summits  of  the  lofty 
Matitzal.  The  latter  have  very  appreciably  intermixed  with  the 
conquered  people  of  the  same  stock  as  the  Mojaves  and  Yumas  of 
the  Colorado  valley,  and  the  consequence  is  that  the  two  languages 
are,  in  many  cases,  spoken  interchangeably,  and  not  a  few  of 
the  chiefs  and  head  men  possess  two  names — one  in  the  Apache, 
the  other  in  the  Mojave  tongue. 

Aiter  leaving  Camp  Apache,  the  command  was  greatly  reduced 
by  the  departure  of  three  of  the  companies  in  as  many  directions; 


THE  GREAT  MOGOLLON  PLATEAU.  145 

one  of  these — Guy  V.  Henry's — ran  in  on  a  party  of  hostile 
Apaches  and  exchanged  shots,  killing  one  warrior  whose  body 
fell  into  our  hands.  The  course  of  those  who  were  to  accompany 
General  Crook  was  nearly  due  west,  along  the  rim  of  what  is 
called  the  Mogollon  Mountain  or  plateau,  a  range  of  very  large 
size  and  great  elevation,  covered  on  its  summits  with  a  forest 
of  large  pine-trees.  It  is  a  strange  upheaval,  a  strange  freak 
of  nature,  a  mountain  canted  up  on  one  side  ;  one  rides  along  the 
edge  and  looks  down  two  and  three  thousand  feet  into  what  is 
termed  the  "  Tonto  Basin,"  a  weird  scene  of  grandeur  and  rugged 
beauty.  The  "  Basin  "  is  a  basin  only  in  the  sense  that  it  is  all 
lower  than  the  ranges  enclosing  it — the  Mogollon,  the  Matitzal 
and  the  Sierra  Ancha — but  its  whole  triangular  area  is  so  cut  up 
by  ravines,  arroyos,  small  stream  beds  and  hills  of  very  good 
height,  that  it  may  safely  be  pronounced  one  of  the  roughest  spots 
on  the  globe.  It  is  plentifully  watered  by  the  affluents  of  the 
Eio  Verde  and  its  East  Fork,  and  by  the  Tonto  and  the  Little 
Tonto;  since  the  subjugation  of  the  Apaches  it  has  produced 
abundantly  of  peaches  and  strawberries,  and  potatoes  have  done 
wonderfully  on  the  summit  of  the  Mogollon  itself  in  the  sheltered 
swales  in  the  pine  forest.  At  the  date  of  our  march  all  this 
section  of  Arizona  was  still  unmapped,  and  we  had  to  depend 
upon  Apache  guides  to  conduct  us  until  within  sight  of  the 
Matitzal  range,  four  or  five  days  out  from  Camp  Apache. 

The  most  singular  thing  to  note  about  the  Mogollon  was  the 
fact  that  the  streams  which  flowed  upon  its  surface  in  almost 
every  case  made  their  way  to  the  north  and  east  into  Shevlon's 
Fork,  even  where  they  had  their  origin  in  springs  almost  upon 
the  crest  itself.  One  exception  is  the  spring  named  after  General 
Crook  (General's  Springs),  which  he  discovered,  and  near  which 
he  had  such  a  narrow  escape  from  being  killed  by  Apaches — that 
makes  into  the  East  Fork  of  the  Verde.  It  is  an  awe-inspiring 
sensation  to  be  able  to  sit  or  stand  upon  the  edge  of  such  a  preci 
pice  and  look  down  upon  a  broad  expanse  mantled  with  juicy 
grasses,  the  paradise  of  live  stock.  There  is  no  finer  grazing 
section  anywhere  than  the  Tonto  Basin,  and  cattle,  sheep,  and 
horses  all  now  do  well  in  it.  It  is  from  its  ruggedness  eminently 
suited  for  the  purpose,  and  in  this  respect  differs  from  the  Sul 
phur  Springs  valley  which  has  been  occupied  by  cattlemen  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  farmer,  despite  the  fact  that  all  along  its  length 
10 


146          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

one  can  find  water  by  digging  a  few  feet  beneath  the  surface. 
Such  land  as  the  Sulphur  Springs  valley  would  be  more  profitably 
employed  in  the  cultivation  of  the  grape  and  cereals  than  as  a 
range  for  a  few  thousand  head  of  cattle  as  is  now  the  ca«e. 

The  Ton  to  Basin  was  well  supplied  with  deer  and  other  wild 
animals,  as  well  as  with  mescal,  Spanish  bayonet,  acorn-bearing 
oak,  walnuts,  and  other  favorite  foods  of  the  Apaches,  while  the 
higher  levels  of  the  Mogollon  and  the  other  ranges  were  at  one 
and  the  same  time  pleasant  abiding-places  during  the  heats  of 
summer,  and  ramparts  of  protection  against  the  sudden  incursion 
of  an  enemy.  I  have  already  spoken  of  the  wealth  of  flowers  to 
be  seen  in  these  high  places ;  I  can  only  add  that  throughout 
our  march  across  the  Mogollon  range — some  eleven  days  in  time — 
we  saw  spread  out  before  us  a  carpet  of  colors  which  would  rival 
the  best  examples  of  the  looms  of  Turkey  or  Persia. 

Approaching  the  western  edge  of  the  plateau,  we  entered  the 
country  occupied  by  the  Tonto  Apaches,  the  fiercest  band  of  this 
wild  and  apparently  incorrigible  family.  We  were  riding  along 
in  a  very  lovely  stretch  of  pine  forest  one  sunny  afternoon,  admir 
ing  the  wealth  of  timber  which  would  one  day  be  made  tributary 
to  the  world's  commerce,  looking  down  upon  the  ever-varying 
colors  of  the  wild  flowers  which  spangled  the  ground  for  leagues 
(because  in  these  forests  upon  the  summits  of  all  of  Arizona's  great 
mountain  ranges  there  is  never  any  underbrush,  as  is  the  case  in 
countries  where  there  is  a  greater  amount  of  humidity  in  the 
atmosphere),  and  ever  and  anon  exchanging  expressions  of  pleas 
ure  and  wonder  at  the  vista  spread  out  beneath  us  in  the  immense 
Basin  to  the  left  and  front,  bounded  by  the  lofty  ridges  of  the 
Sierra  Ancha  and  the  Matitzal ;  each  one  was  talking  pleasantly 
to  his  neighbor,  and  as  it  happened  the  road  we  were  pursuing — 
to  call  it  road  where  human  being  had  never  before  passed — was 
so  even  and  clear  that  we  were  riding  five  and  six  abreast,  General 
Crook,  Lieutenant  Ross,  Captain  Brent,  Mr.  Thomas  Moore,  and 
myself  a  short  distance  in  advance  of  the  cavalry,  and  the  pack- 
train  whose  tinkling  bells  sounded  lazily  among  the  trees — and 
were  all  delighted  to  be  able  to  go  into  camp  in  such  a  romantic 
spot — when  "  whiz  !  whiz  !  "  sounded  the  arrows  of  a  small  party 
of  Tontos  who  had  been  watching  our  advance  and  determined  to 
try  the  effects  of  a  brisk  attack,  not  knowing  that  we  were 
merely  the  advance  of  a  larger  command. 


A  BREAKNECK  EPISODE.  147 

The  Apaches  could  not,  in  so  dense  a  forest,  see  any  distance 
ahead  ;  but  did  not  hesitate  to  do  the  best  they  could  to  stampede 
us,  and  consequently  attacked  boldly  with  arrows  which  made 
no  noise  to  arouse  the  suspicions  of  the  white  men  in  rear.  The 
arrows  were  discharged  with  such  force  that  one  of  them  entered 
a  pine-tree  as  far  as  the  feathers,  and  another  not  quite  so  far, 
but  still  too  far  to  allow  of  its  extraction.  There  was  a  trifle  of 
excitement  until  we  could  get  our  bearings  and  see  just  what  was 
the  matter,  and  in  the  mean  time  every  man  had  found  his  tree 
without  waiting  for  any  command.  The  Apaches — of  the  Tonto 
band — did  not  number  more  than  fifteen  or  twenty  at  most  and 
were  already  in  retreat,  as  they  saw  the  companies  coming  up  at 
a  brisk  trot,  the  commanders  having  noticed  the  confusion  in  the 
advance.  Two  of  the  Apaches  were  cut  off  from  their  comrades, 
and  as  we  supposed  were  certain  to  fall  into  our  hands  as  pris 
oners.  This  would  have  been  exactly  what  General  Crook  desired, 
because  he  could  then  have  the  means  of  opening  communication 
with  the  band  in  question,  which  had  refused  to  respond  to  any 
and  all  overtures  for  the  cessation  of  hostilities. 

There  they  stood  ;  almost  entirely  concealed  behind  great  boul 
ders  on  the  very  edge  of  the  precipice,  their  bows  drawn  to  a  semi 
circle,  eyes  gleaming  with  a  snaky  black  fire,  long  unkempt  hair 
flowing  down  over  their  shoulders,  bodies  almost  completely  naked, 
faces  streaked  with  the  juice  of  the  baked  mescal  and  the  blood 
of  the  deer  or  antelope — a  most  repulsive  picture  and  yet  one  in 
which  there  was  not  the  slightest  suggestion  of  cowardice.  They 
seemed  to  know  their  doom,  but  not  to  fear  it  in  the  slightest 
degree.  The  tinkling  of  the  pack-train  bells  showed  that  all  our 
command  had  arrived,  and  then  the  Apaches,  realizing  that  it  was 
useless  to  delay  further,  fired  their  arrows  more  in  bravado 
than  with  the  hope  of  inflicting  injury,  as  our  men  were  all  well 
covered  by  the  trees,  and  then  over  the  precipice  they  went,  as  we 
supposed,  to  certain  death  and  destruction.  We  were  all  so  hor 
rified  at  the  sight,  that  for  a  moment  or  more  it  did  not  occur  to 
any  one  to  look  over  the  crest,  but  when  we  did  it  was  seen  that 
the  two  savages  were  rapidly  following  down  the  merest  thread  of  a 
trail  outlined  in  the  vertical  face  of  the  basalt,  and  jumping  from 
rock  to  rock  like  mountain  sheep.  General  Crook  drew  bead, 
aimed  quickly  and  fired ;  the  arm  of  one  of  the  fugitives  hung 
limp  by  his  side,  and  the  red  stream  gushing  out  showed  that  he 


148          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

had  been  badly  hurt ;  but  he  did  not  relax  his  speed  a  particle, 
but  kept  up  with  his  comrade  in  a  headlong  dash  down  the  preci 
pice,  and  escaped  into  the  scrub-oak  on  the  lower  flanks  although 
the  evening  air  resounded  with  the  noise  of  carbines  reverberat 
ing  from  peak  to  peak.  It  was  so  hard  to  believe  that  any  human 
beings  could  escape  down  such  a  terrible  place,  that  every  one 
was  rather  in  expectation  of  seeing  the  Apaches  dashed  to  pieces, 
and  for  that  reason  no  one  could  do  his  best  shooting. 

At  this  time  we  had  neither  the  detachment  of  scouts  with 
which  we  had  left  Tucson — they  had  been  discharged  at  Camp 
Apache  the  moment  that  General  Crook  received  word  that  the 
authorities  in  Washington  were  about  to  make  the  trial  of  send 
ing  commissioners  to  treat  with  the  Apaches — nor  the  small 
party  of  five  Apaches  who  had  conducted  us  out  from  Camp 
Apache  until  we  had  reached  the  centre  of  the  Mogollon  ;  and, 
as  the  country  was  unmapped  and  unknown,  we  had  to  depend 
upon  ourselves  for  reaching  Camp  Verde,  which  no  one  in  the 
party  had  ever  visited. 

We  had  reached  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  plateau,  and  could 
see  the  Bradshaw  and  other  ranges  to  the  west  and  south,  and 
the  sky-piercing  cone  of  the  San  Francisco  to  the  northwest,  but 
were  afraid  to  trust  ourselves  in  the  dark  and  forbidding  mass  of 
brakes  and  cafions  of  great  depth  which  filled  the  country  imme 
diately  in  our  front.  It  was  the  vicinity  of  the  Fossil  Creek 
cafion,  some  fifteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  feet  deep,  which 
we  deemed  it  best  to  avoid,  although  had  we  known  it  we 
might  have  crossed  in  safety  by  an  excellent,  although  precipi 
tous,  trail.  Our.  only  guide  was  Archie  Macintosh,  who  belonged 
up  in  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company's  territory,  and  was  totally 
unacquainted  with  Arizona,  but  a  wonderful  man  in  any  coun 
try.  He  and  General  Crook  and  Tom  Moore  conferred  together, 
and  concluded  it  was  best  to  strike  due  north  and  head  all  the 
cafions  spoken  of.  This  we  did,  but  the  result  was  no  improve 
ment,  as  we  got  into  the  Clear  Creek  canon,  which  is  one  of  the 
deepest  and  most  beautiful  to  look  upon  in  all  the  Southwest,  but 
one  very  hard  upon  all  who  must  descend  and  ascend.  When  we 
descended  we  found  plenty  of  cold,  clear  water,  and  the  banks  of 
the  stream  lined  with  the  wild  hop,  which  loaded  the  atmosphere 
with  a  heavy  perfume  of  lupulin. 

Still  heading  due  north,  we  struck  the  cafion  of  Beaver  Creek, 


CROOK'S  ALERTNESS.  149 

and  were  compelled  to  march  along  its  vertical  walls  of  basalt, 
unable  to  reach  the  water  in  the  tiny,  entrancing  rivulet  below, 
but  at  last  ran  in  upon  the  wagon-road  from  the  Little  Colorado 
to  Camp  Verde.  We  were  getting  rapidly  down  from  the  sum 
mit  of  the  Mogollon,  and  entering  a  country  exactly  similar  to 
that  of  the  major  portion  of  Southern  Arizona.  There  was  the 
same  vegetation  of  yucca,  mescal,  nopal,  Spanish  bayonet,  giant 
cactus,  palo  verde,  hediondilla,  mesquite,  and  sage-brush,  laden 
with  the  dust  of  summer,  but  there  was  also  a  considerable 
sprinkling  of  the  cedar,  scrub-pine,  scrub-oak,  madrono,  or 
mountain  mahogany,  and  some  little  mulberry. 

Near  this  trail  there  are  to  be  seen  several  archaeological  curi 
osities  worthy  of  a  visit  from  the  students  of  any  part  of  the 
world.  There  is  the  wonderful  " Montezuma's  "Well,"  a  lakelet 
of  eighty  or  ninety  feet  in  depth,  situated  in  the  centre  of  a 
subsidence  of  rock,  in  which  is  a  cave  once  inhabited  by  a  pre 
historic  people,  while  around  the  circumference  of  the  pool  itself 
are  the  cliff-dwellings,  of  which  so  many  examples  are  to  be 
encountered  in  the  vicinity.  One  of  these  cliff-dwellings,  in 
excellent  preservation  when  I  last  visited  it,  is  the  six-story 
house  of  stone  on  the  Beaver  Creek,  which  issues  from  the  cave 
at  Montezuma's  Wells,  and  flows  into  the  Verde  River,  near  the 
post  of  the  same  name.  We  came  upon  the  trails  of  scouting 
parties  descending  the  Mogollon,  and  learned  soon  after  that 
they  had  been  made  by  the  commands  of  Lieutenants  Crawford 
and  Morton,  both  of  whom  had  been  doing  excellent  and  arduous 
work  against  the  hostile  bands  during  the  previous  summer. 

I  have  already  remarked  that  during  this  practice  march  all 
the  members  of  our  command  learned  General  Crook,  but  of  far 
greater  consequence  than  that  was  the  fact  that  he  learned  his 
officers  and  men.  He  was  the  most  untiring  and  indefatigable 
man  I  ever  met ;  and,  whether  climbing  up  or  down  the  rugged 
face  of  some  rocky  caflon,  facing  sun  or  rain,  never  appeared  to 
be  in  the  slightest  degree  distressed  or  annoyed.  No  matter 
what  happened  in  the  camp,  or  on  the  march,  he  knew  it ;  he 
was  always  awake  and  on  his  feet  the  moment  the  cook  of  the 
pack-train  was  aroused  to  prepare  the  morning  meal,  which  was 
frequently  as  early  as  two  o'clock,  and  remained  on  his  feet 
during  the  remainder  of  the  day.  I  am  unable  to  explain 
exactly  how  he  did  it,  but  I  can  assure  my  readers  that  Crook 


150  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

learned,  while  on  that  march,  the  name  of  every  plant,  animal, 
and  mineral  passed  near  the  trail,  as  well  as  the  uses  to  which 
the  natives  put  them,  each  and  all ;  likewise  the  habits  of  the 
birds,  reptiles,  and  animals,  and  the  course  and  general  character 
of  all  the  streams,  little  or  big.  The  Indians  evinced  an  awe  for 
him  from  the  first  moment  of  their  meeting ;  they  did  not  seem 
to  understand  how  it  was  that  a  white  man  could  so  quickly 
absorb  all  that  they  had  to  teach. 

In  the  character  of  General  Crook  there  appeared  a  very  re 
markable  tenderness  for  all  those  for  whose  care  he  in  any  manner 
became  responsible ;  this  tenderness  manifested  itself  in  a  way 
peculiar  to  himself,  and,  as  usual  with  him,  was  never  made  the 
occasion  or  excuse  for  parade.  He  was  at  all  times  anxious  to 
secure  for  his  men  while  on  campaign  all  the  necessaries  of  life, 
and  to  do  that  he  knew  from  his  very  wide  experience  that  there 
was  nothing  to  compare  to  a  thoroughly  organized  and  well- 
equipped  pack-train,  which  could  follow  a  command  by  night  or  by 
day,  and  into  every  locality,  no  matter  how  rocky,  how  thickly 
wooded,  or  how  hopelessly  desert.  He  made  the  study  of  pack- 
trains  the  great  study  of  his  life,  and  had  always  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  the  trains  in  the  department  under  his  control  were 
in  such  admirable  condition,  that  the  moment  trouble  was  threat 
ened  in  other  sections,  his  pack-trains  were  selected  as  being  best 
suited  for  the  most  arduous  work.  He  found  the  nucleus  ready 
to  hand  in  the  system  of  pack-transportation  which  the  exigencies 
of  the  mining  communities  on  the  Pacific  coast  had  caused  to  be 
brought  up  from  Chili,  Peru,  and  the  western  States  of  the  Mex 
ican  Republic. 

The  fault  with  these  trains  was  that  they  were  run  as  money- 
making  concerns,  and  the  men,  as  well  as  the  animals  belonging 
to  them,  were  in  nearly  every  case  employed  as  temporary  make 
shifts,  and  as  soon  as  the  emergency  had  ended  were  discharged. 
The  idea  upon  which  Crook  worked,  and  which  he  successfully 
carried  out,  was  to  select  trains  under  the  pack-masters  who  had 
enjoyed  the  widest  experience,  and  were  by  nature  best  adapted 
to  the  important  duties  they  would  be  called  upon  to  perform. 
Those  who  were  too  much  addicted  to  alcoholic  stimulants,  or  were 
for  other  cause  unsuited,  were  as  opportunity  presented  replaced 
by  better  material.  As  with  the  men,  so  with  the  animals  ;  the  ill- 
assorted  collections  of  bony  giants  and  undersized  Sonora  "rats/' 


ORGANIZING  PACK-TRAINS.  151 

whose  withers  were  always  a  mass  of  sores  and  whose  hoofs  were 
always  broken  and  out  of  sorts,  were  as  speedily  as  possible  sold  off 
or  transferred  to  other  uses,  and  in  their  places  we  saw  trains  of 
animals  which  in  weight,  size  and  build,  were  of  the  type  which, 
experience  had  shown  to  be  most  appropriate. 

The  "aparejos,"  or  pack-cushions,  formerly  issued  by  the  quar 
termaster's  department,  had  been  burlesques,  and  killed  more  mules 
than  they  helped  in  carrying  their  loads.  Crook  insisted  upon 
having  each  mule  provided  with  an  "  aparejo  "  made  especially  for 
him,  saying  that  it  was  just  as  ridiculous  to  expect  a  mule  to  carry 
a  burden  with  an  ill-fitting  "aparejo  "  as  it  would  be  to  expect  a 
soldier  to  march  comfortably  with  a  knapsack  which  did  not  fit 
squarely  to  his  back  and  shoulders.  Every  article  used  in  these 
pack-trains  had  to  be  of  the  best  materials,  for  the  very  excellent 
reason  that  while  out  on  scout,  it  was  impossible  to  replace  any 
thing  broken,  and  a  column  might  be  embarrassed  by  the  failure 
of  a  train  to  arrive  with  ammunition  or  rations — therefore,  on  the 
score  of  economy,  it  was  better  to  have  all  the  very  best  make  in 
the  first  place. 

According  to  the  nomenclature  then  in  vogue  in  pack-trains, 
there  were  to  be  placed  upon  each  mule  in'  due  order  of  sequence 
a  small  cloth  extending  from  the  withers  to  the  loins,  and  called 
from  the  office  it  was  intended  to  perform,  the  "  suadera,"  or 
sweat-cloth.  Then  came,  according  to  the  needs  of  the  case,  two  or 
three  saddle  blankets,  then  the  "aparejo  "  itself — a  large  mattress, 
we  may  say,  stuffed  with  hay  or  straw — weighing  between  fifty-five 
and  sixty-five  pounds,  and  of  such  dimensions  as  to  receive  and 
distribute  to  best  advantage  all  over  the  mule's  back  the  burden 
to  be  carried  which  was  known  by  the  Spanish  term  of  "cargo." 
Over  the  "  aparego,"  the  "  corona/'  and  over  that  the  "  suvrin- 
hammer,"  and  then  the  load  or  "  cargo  "  evenly  divided  so  as  to 
balance  on  the  two  sides.  In  practice,  the  "  corona  "  is  not  now 
used,  except  to  cover  the  "aparejo"  after  reaching  camp,  but 
there  was  a  time  way  back  in  Andalusia  and  in  the  Chilean  Andes 
when  the  heart  of  the  "  arriero  "  or  muleteer,  or  "packer,"  as  he 
is  called  in  the  dreadfully  prosy  language  of  the  quartermaster's 
department,  took  the  greatest  delight  in  devising  the  pattern, 
quaint  or  horrible,  but  always  gaudy  and  in  the  gayest  of  colors, 
which  should  decorate  and  protect  his  favorite  mules.  I  do  not 
know  how  true  it  is,  but  "  Chileno  John  "  and  others  told  me  that 


152          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

the  main  service  expected  of  the 
"  arriero"  who  couldn't  read  or  write  to  tell  just  where  his  own 
"  aparejos"  were,  but  of  this  I  am  unable  to  say  anything  posi 
tively. 

The  philological  outrage  which  I  have  written  phonetically  as 
"  suvrin-hammer "  would  set  devout  Mohammedans  crazy  were 
they  to  know  of  its  existence ;  it  is  a  base  corruption  of  the  old 
Hispano-Moresque  term  "sobre-en-jalma," — over  the  jalma, — the 
Arabic  word  for  pack-saddle,  which  has  wandered  far  away,  far 
from  the  date-palms  of  the  Sahara,  and  the  rippling  fountains 
of  Granada,  to  gladden  the  hearts  and  break  the  tongues  of  Cape 
Cod  Yankees  in  the  Gila  Valley.  In  the  same  boat  with  it  is 
the  Zuni  word  "Tinka"  for  the  flux  to  be  used  in  working  sil 
ver  ;  it  is  a  travelled  word,  and  first  saw  the  light  in  the  gloomy 
mountain  ranges  of  far-off  Thibet,  where  it  was  pronounced 
"Tincal"  or  "  Atincal,"  and  meant  borax;  thence,  it  made  its 
way  with  caravans  to  and  through  Arabia  and  Spain  to  the  Spanish 
settlements  in  the  land  of  the  West.  Everything  about  a  pack- 
train  was  Spanish  or  Arabic  in  origin,  as  I  have  taken  care  to 
apprise  my  readers  in  another  work,  but  it  may  be  proper  to  repeat 
here  that  the  first,  as  it  was  the  largest  organized  pack-train  in 
history,  was  that  of  fifteen  thousand  mules  which  Isabella  the 
Catholic  called  into  the  service  of  the  Crown  of  Castile  and  Leon 
at  the  time  she  established  the  city  of  Santa  Fe  in  the  "  Vega," 
and  began  in  good  earnest  the  siege  of  Granada. 

One  could  pick  up  not  a  little  good  Spanish  in  a  pack-train  in 
the  times  of  which  I  speak — twenty-one  years  ago — and  there  were 
many  expressions  in  general  use  which  preserved  all  the  flavor  of 
other  lands  and  other  ideas.  Thus  the  train  itself  was  generally 
known  as  the  "atajo  ;"  the  pack-master  was  called  the  "patron ;" 
his  principal  assistant,  whose  functions  were  to  attend  to  every 
thing  pertaining  to  the  loads,  was  styled  "  cargador  ; "  the  cook 
was  designated  the  "  cencero,"  from  the  fact  that  he  rode  the  bell- 
mare,  usually  a  white  animal,  from  the  superstition  prevailing 
among  Spanish  packers  that  mules  liked  the  color  white  better 
than  any  other. 

Packers  were  always  careful  not  to  let  any  stray  colts  in  among 
the  mules,  because  they  would  set  the  mules  crazy.  This  idea  is 
not  an  absurd  one,  as  I  can  testify  from  my  personal  observation. 
The  mules  are  so  anxious  to  play  with  young  colts  that  they  will 


CIRCUMVENTING  THE  SKITTISH  MULE.  153 

do  nothing  else  ;  and,  being  stronger  than  the  youngster,  will 
often  injure  it  by  crowding  up  against  it.  The  old  mules  of  a 
train  know  their  business  perfectly  well.  They  need  no  one  to 
show  them  where  their  place  is  when  the  evening's  "  feed  "  is  to 
be  apportioned  on  the  canvas,  and  in  every  way  deport  them 
selves  as  sedate,  prim,  well-behaved  members  of  society,  from 
whom  all  vestiges  of  the  frivolities  of  youth  have  been  eradicated. 
They  never  wander  far  from  the  sound  of  the  bell,  and  give  no 
trouble  to  the  packers  "on  herd." 

But  a  far  different  story  must  be  told  of  the  inexperienced, 
skittish  young  mule,  fresh  from  the  blue  grass  of  Missouri  or 
Nebraska.  He  is  the  source  of  more  profanity  than  he  is  worth, 
and  were  it  not  that  the  Recording  Angel  understands  the  aggra 
vation  in  the  case,  he  would  have  his  hands  full  in  entering  all 
the  "  cuss  words  "  to  which  the  green  pack-mule  has  given  rise. 
He  will  not  mind  the  bell,  will  wander  away  from  his  comrades 
on  herd,  and  in  sundry  and  divers  ways  demonstrates  the  per 
versity  of  his  nature.  To  contravene  his  maliciousness,  it  is 
necessary  to  mark  him  in  such  a  manner  that  every  packer  will 
see  at  a  glance  that  he  is  a  new  arrival,  and  thereupon  set  to 
work  to  drive  him  back  to  his  proper  place  in  his  own  herd.  The 
most  certain,  as  it  is  the  most  convenient  way  to  effect  this,  is  by 
neatly  reaching  his  mane  and  shaving  his  tail  so  that  nothing  is 
left  but  a  pencil  or  tassel  of  hair  at  the  extreme  end.  He  is  now 
known  as  a  "  shave-tail,"  and  everybody  can  recognize  him  at 
first  sight.  His  sedate  and  well-trained  comrade  is  called  a 
"bell-sharp."  • 

These  terms,  in  frontier  sarcasm,  have  been  transferred  to  offi 
cers  of  the  army,  who,  in  the  parlance  of  the  packers,  are  known 
as  "bell-sharps"  and  "shave-tails"  respectively;  the  former  be 
ing  the  old  captain  or  field-officer  of  many  "fogies,"  who  knows 
too  much  to  be  wasting  his  energies  in  needless  excursions  about 
the  country,  and  the  latter,  the  youngster  fresh  from  his  studies 
on  the  Hudson,  who  fondly  imagines  he  knows  it  all,  and  is  not 
above  having  people  know  that  he  does.  He  is  a  "  shave-tail  " — 
all  elegance  of  uniform,  spick-span  new,  well  groomed,  and  with 
out  sense  enough  to  come  in  for  "feed"  when  the  bell  rings. 
On  the  plains  these  two  classes  of  very  excellent  gentlemen  used 
to  be  termed  "coffee-coolers  "  and  "goslings." 

There  are  few  more  animated  sights  than  a  pack-train  at  the 


154  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

moment  of  feeding  and  grooming  the  mules.  The  care  shown 
equals  almost  that  given  to  the  average  baby,  and  the  dumb 
animals  seem  to  respond  to  all  attentions.  General  Crook  kept 
himself  posted  as  to  what  was  done  to  every  mule,  and,  as  a 
result,  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  his  trains  carrying  a  net 
average  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  pounds  to  the  mule,  while 
a  pamphlet  issued  by  the  Government  had  explicitly  stated  that 
the  highest  average  should  not  exceed  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
five.  So  that,  viewed  in  the  most  sordid  light,  the  care  which 
General  Crook  bestowed  upon  his  trains  yielded  wonderful  re 
sults.  Not  a  day  passed  that  General  Crook  did  not  pass  from 
one  to  two  hours  in  personal  inspection  of  the  workings  of  his 
trains,  and  he  has  often  since  told  me  that  he  felt  then  the  great 
responsibility  of  having  his  transportation  in  the  most  perfect 
order,  because  so  much  was  to  be  demanded  of  it. 

The  packers  themselves  were  an  interesting  study,  drawn  as 
they  were  from  the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  although  the  major 
portion,  as  was  to  be  expected,  was  of  Spanish- American  origin. 
Not  an  evening  passed  on  this  trip  across  the  mountains  of  the 
Mogollon  Eange  that  Crook  did  not  quietly  take  a  seat  close  to 
the  camp-fire  of  some  of  the  packers,  and  listen  intently  to  their 
" reminiscences  "  of  early  mining  days  in  California  or  "up  on 
the  Frazer  in  British  Columbia."  "Hank  'n  Yank,"  Tom 
Moore,  Jim  O'Neill,  Charlie  Hopkins,  Jack  Long,  Long  Jim 
Cook,  and  others,  were  "forty-niners,"  and  well  able  to  discuss 
the  most  exciting  times  known  to  the  new  Pactolus,  with  its 
accompanying  trying  days  of  the  vigilance  committee  and  other 
episodes  of  equal  interest.  These  were  "men"  in  the  truest 
sense  of  the  term ;  they  had  faced  all  perils,  endured  all  priva 
tions,  and  conquered  in  a  manly  way,  which  is  the  one  unfailing 
test  of  greatness  in  human  nature.  Some  of  the  narratives  were 
mirth-provoking  beyond  my  powers  of  repetition,  and  for  General 
Crook  they  formed  an  unfailing  source  of  quiet  amusement  when 
ever  a  chance  offered  to  listen  to  them  as  told  by  the  packers. 

One  of  our  men — I  have  forgotten  to  mention  him  sooner — 
was  Johnnie  Hart,  a  very  quiet  and  reserved  person,  with  a  great 
amount  of  force,  to  be  shown  when  needed.  There  was  little  of 
either  the  United  States  or  Mexico  over  which  he  had  not  wan 
dered  as  a  mining  "  prospector,"  delving  for  metals,  precious  or 
non-precious.  Bad  luck  overtook  him  in  Sonora  just  about  when 


TRAIN-PACKERS'   REMINISCENCES.  155 

that  country  was  the  scene  of  the  liveliest  kind  of  a  time  between 
the  French  and  the  native  Mexicans,  and  while  the  hostile  fac 
tions  of  the  Gandaras  and  the  Pesquieras  were  doing  their  best 
to  destroy  what  little  the  rapacity  of  the  Gallic  invaders  left 
intact.  Johnnie  was  rudely  awakened  one  night  by  a  loud  rap 
ping  at  the  door  of  the  hut  in  which  he  had  taken  shelter,  and 
learned,  to  his  great  surprise,  that  he  was  needed  as  a  "volunta- 
rio,"  which  meant,  as  nearly  as  he  could  understand,  that  he  was 
to  put  on  handcuffs  and  march  with  the  squad  to  division  head 
quarters,  and  there  be  assigned  to  a  company.  In  vain  he 
explained,  or  thought  he  was  explaining,  that  he  was  an  Ameri 
can  citizen  and  not  subject  to  conscription.  All  the  satisfaction 
he  got  was  to  be  told  that  every  morning  and  evening  he  was  to 
cheer  "for  our  noble  Constitution  and  for  General  Pesquiera." 

After  all,  it  was  not  such  a  yery  hard  life.  The  marches  were 
short,  and  the  country  well  filled  with  chickens,  eggs,  and  goats. 
What  more  could  a  soldier  want  ?  So,  our  friend  did  not  com 
plain,  and  went  about  his  few  duties  with  cheerfulness,  and  was 
making  rapid  progress  in  the  shibboleth  of  "  Long  live  our  noble 
Constitution  and  General  Pesquiera," — when,  one  evening,  the 
first  sergeant  of  his  company  hit  him  a  violent  slap  on  the  side  of 
the  head,  and  said  :  "You  idiot,  do  you  not  know  enough  to 
cheer  for  General  Gandara  ?"  And  then  it  was  that  poor  Johnnie 
learned  for  the  first  time — he  had  been  absent  for  several  days  on 
a  foraging  expedition  and  had  just  returned — that  the  general 
commanding  had  sold  out  the  whole  division  to  General  Gandara 
the  previous  day  for  a  dollar  and  six  bits  a  head. 

This  was  the  last  straw.  Johnnie  Hart  was  willing  to  fight,  and 
it  made  very  little  difference  to  him  on  which  side;  but  he  could 
not  put  up  with  such  a  sudden  swinging  of  the  pendulum,  and 
as  he  expressed  it,  "  made  up  his  mind  to  skip  the  hull  outfit  'n 
punch  the  breeze  fur  Maz'tlan." 

All  the  packers  were  sociable,  and  inclined  to  be  friendly  to 
every  one.  The  Spaniards,  like  "  Chileno  John,"  Jose  de  Leon, 
Lauriano  Gomez,  and  others,  were  never  more  happy — work  com 
pleted — than  in  explaining  their  language  to  such  Americans  as 
evinced  a  desire  to  learn  it.  Gomez  was  well  posted  in  Spanish 
literature,  especially  poetry,  and  would  often  recite  for  us  with 
much  animation  and  expression  the  verses  of  his  native  tongue. 
He  preferred  the  madrigals  and  love  ditties  of  all  kinds ;  and  was 


156          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

never  more  pleased  than  when  he  had  organized  a  quartette  and 
had  begun  to  awaken  the  echoes  of  the  grand  old  canons  or  forests 
with  the  deliciously  plaintive  notes  of  "  La  Golondrina,"  "  Adios 
de  Guaymas,"  or  other  songs  in  minor  key,  decidedly  nasalized. 
I  may  say  that  at  a  later  date  I  have  listened  to  a  recitation  by  a 
packer  named  Hale,  of  Espronceda's  lines — "The  Bandit  Chief" 
— in  a  very  creditable  style  in  the  balsam- breathing  forests  of  the 
Sierra  Madre. 

The  experiences  of  old  Sam  Wisser,  in  the  more  remote  portions 
of  Sonora  and  Sinaloa,  never  failed  to  "  bring  down  the  house," 
when  related  in  his  homely  Pennsylvania- German  brogue.  I  will 
condense  the  story  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  may  care  to  listen. 
Sam's  previous  business  had  been  "prospecting"  for  mines,  and, 
in  pursuit  of  his  calling,  he  had  travelled  far  and  near,  generally 
so  intent  upon  the  search  for  wealth  at  a  distance  that  he  failed 
to  secure  any  of  that  which  often  lay  at  his  feet.  Equipped  with 
the  traditional  pack-mule,  pick,  spade,  frying-pan,  and  blankets, 
he  started  out  on  his  mission  having  as  a  companion  a  man  who 
did  not  pretend  to  be  much  of  a  "  prospector/'  but  was  travelling 
for  his  health,  or  what  was  left  of  it.  They  had  not  reached  the 
Eldorado  of  their  hopes  ;  but  were  far  down  in  Sinaloa  when 
the  comrade  died,  and  it  became  Sam's  sad  duty  to  administer 
upon  the  " estate."  The  mule  wasn't  worth  much  and  was  indeed 
almost  as  badly  worn  out  as  its  defunct  master.  The  dead  man's 
clothing  was  buried  with  him,  and  his  revolver  went  a  good  ways 
in  paying  the  expenses  of  interment.  There  remained  nothing 
but  a  very  modest-looking  valise  nearly  filled  with  bottles,  pill 
boxes,  and  pots  of  various  medicinal  preparations  warranted  to 
cure  all  the  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to.  An  ordinary  man  would  have 
thrown  all  this  away  as  so  much  rubbish,  but  our  friend  was 
a  genius — he  carefully  examined  each  and  every  package,  and 
learned  exactly  what  they  were  all  worth  according  to  the  advertise 
ments.  Nothing  escaped  his  scrutiny,  from  the  picture  of  the 
wretch  "before  taking/'  to  that  of  the  rubicund,  aldermanic,  smil 
ing  athlete  "  after  taking  six  bottles."  All  the  testimonials  from 
shining  lights  of  pulpit  and  bar  were  read  through  from  date  to 
signature,  and  the  result  of  it  all  was  that  Sam  came  to  the  very 
logical  conclusion  that  if  he  had  in  his  possession  panaceas  for  all 
ailments,  why  should  he  not  practise  the  healing  art  ?  The  next 
morning  dawned  upon  a  new  Esculapius,  and  lighted  up  the  legend 


SAM   WISSER,    "MEDICO."  157 

fe  Medico  "  tacked  upon  the  frame  of  the  door  of  Sam's  hovel.  It 
made  no  difference  to  the  budding  practitioner  what  the  disorder 
was;  he  had  the  appropriate  remedy  at  hand,  and  was  most  liberal 
in  the  amount  of  dosing  to  be  given  to  his  patients,  which  went 
far  to  increase  their  confidence  in  a  man  who  seemed  so  willing 
to  give  them  the  full  worth  of  their  money.  The  only  trouble 
was  that  Sam  never  gave  the  same  dose  twice  to  the  same  patient ; 
this  was  because  he  had  no  memorandum  books,  and  could  not 
keep  in  mind  all  the  circumstances  of  each  case.  The  man  who 
had  Croton-oil  pills  in  the  morning  received  a  tablespoonful  of 
somebody's  fi  Siberian  Solvent"  at  night,  and  there  was  such  a 
crowd  that  poor  Sam  was  kept  much  more  busy  than  he  at  first 
supposed  he  should  be,  because  the  people  were  not  disposed  to  let 
go  by  an  opportunity  of  ridding  themselves  of  all  infirmities,  when 
the  same  could  be  eradicated  by  a  physician  who  accepted  in  pay 
ment  anything  from  a  two-bit-piece  to  a  string  of  chile  Colorado. 
Sam's  practice  was  not  confined  to  any  one  locality.  It  reached 
from  the  southern  end  of  the  Mexican  State  of  Sinaloa  to  the 
international  boundary.  Sam,  in  other  words,  had  become  a  trav 
elling  doctor — he  kept  travelling — but  as  his  mule  had  had  a  good 
rest  and  some  feed  in  the  beginning  of  its  master's  new  career,  the 
pursuers  were  never  able  to  quite  catch  up  with  the  Gringo  quack 
whose  nostrums  were  depopulating  the  country. 

From  the  valley  of  the  Verde  to  the  town  of  Prescott,  according 
to  the  steep  roads  and  trails  connecting  them  in  1871,  was  some 
thing  over  fifty-five  miles,  the  first  part  of  the  journey  extremely 
rough  and  precipitous,  the  latter  half  within  sight  of  hills  clad 
with  graceful  pines  and  cooled  by  the  breezes  from  the  higher 
ranges.  The  country  was  well  grassed  ;  there  was  a  very  pleasing 
absence  of  the  cactus  vegetation  to  be  seen  farther  to  the  south, 
adobe  houses  were  replaced  by  comfortable-looking  dwellings  and 
barns  of  plank  or  stone  ;  the  water  in  the  wells  was  cold  and  pure, 
and  the  lofty  peaks,  the  San  Francisco  and  the  Black  Kange  and 
the  Bradsh-aw,  were  for  months  in  the  year  buried  in  snow. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

THE  PICTURESQUE  TOWN  OF  PEESCOTT — THE  APACHES  ACTIVE 
NEAR  PRESCOTT — "  TOMMY  "  BYRNE  AND  THE  HUALPAIS 
— THIEVING  INDIAN  AGENTS — THE  MOJAVES,  PI-UTES  AND 
AVA-SUPAIS — THE  TRAVELS  OF  FATHERS  ESCALANTE  AND 
GARCES — THE  GODS  OF  THE  HUALPAIS — THE  LORING  MAS 
SACRE — HOW  PHIL  DWYER  DIED  AND  WAS  BURIED — THE 
INDIAN  MURDERERS  AT  CAMP  DATE  CREEK  PLAN  TO  KILL 
CROOK — MASON  JUMPS  THE  RENEGADES  AT  THE  "  MUCHOS 
CANONES  " — DELT-CHE  AND  CHA-LIPUN  GIVE  TROUBLE — 
THE  KILLING  OF  BOB  WHITNEY. 

A  FEW  words  should  be  spoken  in  praise  of  a  community 
which  of  all  those  on  the  southwestern  frontier  preserved 
the  distinction  of  being  thoroughly  American.  Prescott  was  not 
merely  picturesque  in  location  and  dainty  in  appearance,  with 
all  its  houses  neatly  painted  and  surrounded  with  paling  fences 
and  supplied  with  windows  after  the  American  style — it  was  a 
village  transplanted  bodily  from  the  centre  of  the  Delaware,  the 
Mohawk,  or  the  Connecticut  valley.  Its  inhabitants  were  Ameri 
cans  ;  American  men  had  brought  American  wives  out  with  them 
from  their  old  homes  in  the  far  East,  and  these  American  wives 
had  not  forgotten  the  lessons  of  elegance  and  thrift  learned  in 
childhood.  Everything  about  the  houses  recalled  the  scenes 
familiar  to  the  dweller  in  the  country  near  Pittsburgh  or  other 
busy  community.  The  houses  were  built  in  American  style ;  the 
doors  were  American  doors  and  fastened  with  American  bolts  and 
locks,  opened  by  American  knobs,  and  not  closed  by  letting 
a  heavy  cottonwood  log  fall  against  them. 

The  furniture  was  the  neat  cottage  furniture  with  which  all 
must  be  familiar  who  have  ever  had  the  privilege  of  entering  an 
American  country  home ;  there  were  carpefcs,  mirrors,  rocking- 
chairs,  tables,  lamps,  and  all  other  appurtenances,  just  as  one 
might  expect  to  find  them  in  any  part  of  our  country  excepting 


HEADQUARTERS  AT  PRESCOTT.  159 

Arizona  and  New  Mexico.  There  were  American  books,  Ameri 
can  newspapers,  American  magazines — the  last  intelligently  read. 
The  language  was  American,  and  nothing  else — the  man  who 
hoped  to  acquire  a  correct  knowledge  of  Castilian  in  Prescott 
would  surely  be  disappointed.  Not  even  so  much  as  a  Spanish 
advertisement  could  be  found  in  the  columns  of  The  Miner, 
in  which,  week  after  week,  John  H.  Marion  fought  out  the  battle 
of  "America  for  the  Americans/'  The  stores  were  American 
stores,  selling  nothing  but  American  goods.  In  one  word,  the 
transition  from  Tucson  to  Prescott  was  as  sudden  and  as  radical 
as  that  between  Madrid  and  Manchester. 

In  one  respect  only  was  there  the  slightest  resemblance  :  in 
Prescott,  as  in  Tucson,  the  gambling  saloons  were  never  closed- 
Sunday  or  Monday,  night  or  morning,  the  "game"  went,  and 
the  voice  of  the  "  dealer  "  was  heard  in  the  land.  Prescott  was 
essentially  a  mining  town  deriving  its  business  from  the  wants  of 
the  various  (<  claims"  on  the  Agua  Fria,  the  Big  Bug  and  Lynx 
Creek  on  the  east,  and  others  in  the  west  as  far  as  Cerbat  and 
Mineral  Park.  There  was  an  air  of  comfort  about  it  which  indi 
cated  intelligence  and  refinement  rather  than  wealth  which  its 
people  did  not  as  yet  enjoy. 

At  this  time,  in  obedience  to  orders  received  from  the  Secretary 
of  War,  I  was  assigned  to  duty  as  aide-de-camp,  and  in  that  posi 
tion  had  the  best  possible  opportunity  for  becoming  acquainted 
with  the  country,  the  Indians  and  white  people  in  it,  and  to 
absorb  a  knowledge  of  all  that  was  to  be  done  and  that  was  done. 
General  Crook's  first  move  was  to  bring  the  department  head 
quarters  to  Prescott;  they  had  been  for  a  long  while  at  Los 
Angeles,  California,  some  five  hundred  miles  across  the  desert, 
to  the  west,  and  in  the  complete  absence  of  railroad  and  telegraph 
facilities  they  might  just  as  well  have  been  in  Alaska.  His  next 
duty  was  to  perfect  the  knowledge  already  gained  of  the  enor 
mous  area  placed  under  his  charge,  and  this  necessitated  an 
incredible  amount  of  travelling  on  mule-back,  in  ambulance  and 
buckboard,  over  roads,  or  rather  trails,  which  eclipsed  any  of  the 
horrors  portrayed  by  the  pencil  of  Dore\  There  was  great  danger 
in  all  this,  but  Crook  travelled  without  escort,  except  on  very 
special  occasions,  as  he  did  not  wish  to  break  down  his  men  by 
overwork. 

The  Apaches  had  been  fully  as  active  in  the  neighborhood  of 


160          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Prescott  as  they  had  been  in  that  of  Tucson,  and  to  this  day  such 
names  as  "The  Burnt  Kanch"— a  point  four  miles  to  the  north 
west  of  the  town — commemorate  attacks  and  massacres  by  the  ab 
origines.  The  mail-rider  had  several  times  been  "  corraled  "  at  the 
Point  of  Kocks,  very  close  to  the  town,  and  all  of  this  portion  of 
Arizona  had  groaned  under  the  depredations  not  of  the  Apaches 
alone  but  of  the  Navajos,  Hualpais,  and  Apache-Mo javes,  and 
now  and  then  of  the  Sevinches,  a  small  band  of  thieves  of  Pi-Ute 
stock,  living  in  the  Grand  Canon  of  the  Colorado  on  the  north 
ern  boundary  of 'the  territory.  I  have  still  preserved  as  relics  of 
those  days  copies  of  The  Miner  of  Prescott  and  of  The  Citizen  of 
Tucson,  in  every  column  of  which  are  to  be  found  references  to 
Indian  depredations. 

There  should  still  be  in  Washington  a  copy  of  the  petition  for 
warded  by  the  inhabitants  pleading  for  more  adequate  protection, 
in  which  are  given  the  names  of  over  four  hundred  American 
citizens  killed  in  encounters  with  the  savages  within  an  extremely 
limited  period — two  or  three  years — and  the  dates  and  localities 
of  the  occurrences. 

Fort  "Whipple,  the  name  of  the  military  post  within  one  mile 
of  the  town,  was  a  ramshackle,  tumble-down  palisade  of  un- 
barked  pine  logs  hewn  from  the  adjacent  slopes ;  it  was  supposed 
to  " command"  something,  exactly  what,  I  do  not  remember,  as 
it  was  so  dilapidated  that  every  time  the  wind  rose  we  were 
afraid  that  the  palisade  was  doomed.  The  quarters  for  both 
officers  and  men  were  also  log  houses,  with  the  exception  of  one 
single-room  shanty  on -the  apex  of  the  hill  nearest  to  town,  which 
was  constructed  of  unseasoned,  unpainted  pine  planks,  and  which 
served  as  General  Crook's  (i  Headquarters,"  and,  at  night,  as  the 
place  wherein  he  stretched  his  limbs  in  slumber.  He  foresaw 
that  the  negotiations  which  Mr.  Vincent  Collyer  had  been  com 
missioned  to  carry  on  with  the  roving  bands  of  the  Apaches 
would  result  in  naught,  because  the  distrust  of  the  savages  for 
the  white  man,  and  all  he  said  and  did,  had  become  so  confirmed 
that  it  would  take  more  than  one  or  two  pleasant  talks  full  of 
glowing  promises  to  eradicate  it.  Therefore,  General  Crook  felt 
that  it  would  be  prudent  for  him  to  keep  himself  in  the  best 
physical  trim,  to  be  the  better  able  to  undergo  the  fatigues  of 
the  campaigns  which  were  sure  to  come,  and  come  very  soon. 

The  Apaches  are  not  the  only  tribe  in  Arizona ;  there  are  sev- 


CAPTAIN  THOMAS  BYRNE.  161 

eral  others,  which  have  in  the  past  been  a  source  of  trouble  to 
the  settlers  and  of  expense  to  the  authorities.  One  of  these  was 
the  Hualpais,  whose  place  of  abode  was  in  the  Grand  Gallon,  and 
who  were  both  brave  and  crafty  in  war  ;  they  were  then  at  Camp 
Beale  Springs  in  northwestern  Arizona,  forty-five  miles  from 
the  Colorado  River,  and  under  the  care  of  an  officer  long  since 
dead — Captain  Thomas  Byrne,  Twelfth  Infantry,  who  was  a 
genius  in  his  way.  "Old  Tommy,"  as  he  was  aifectionately 
called  by  every  one  in  the  service  or  out  of  it,  had  a  "  deludherin' 
tongue,"  which  he  used  freely  in  the  cause  of  peace,  knowing  as 
he  did  that  if  this  small  tribe  of  resolute  people  should  ever 
return  to  the  war-path,  it  would  take  half  a  dozen  regiments  to 
dislodge  them  from  the  dizzy  cliifs  of  the  "  Music/'  the  "  Sunup," 
the  "  Wickyty-wizz,"  and  the  "Diamond." 

So  Tommy  relied  solely  upon  his  native  eloquence,  seconded 
by  the  scantiest  allowance  of  rations  from  the  subsistence  stores 
of  the  camp.  He  acquired  an  ascendancy  over  the  minds  of  the 
chiefs  and  head  men — "Sharum,"  "Levy-Levy,"  "Sequonya," 
"Enyacue-yusa,"  "  Ahcula-watta,"  "Colorow,"  and"Hualpai 
Charlie  " — which  was  little  short  of  miraculous.  He  was  an  old 
bachelor,  but  seemed  to  have  a  warm  spot  in  his  heart  for  all  the 
little  naked  and  half -naked  youngsters  in  and  around  his  camp, 
to  whom  he  gave  most  liberally  of  the  indigestible  candy  and 
sweet  cakes  of  the  trader's  store. 

The  squaws  were  allowed  all  the  hard-tack  they  could  eat,  but 
only  on  the  most  solemn  occasions  could  they  gratify  their  taste 
for  castor  oil — the  condition  of  the  medical  supplies  would  not 
warrant  the  issue  of  all  they  demanded.  I  have  read  that  certain 
of  the  tribes  of  Africa  use  castor  oil  in  cooking,  but  I  know  of 
no  other  tribe  of  American  Indians  so  greedy  for  this  medicine. 
But  taste  is  at  best  something  which  cannot  be  explained  or  ac 
counted  for ;  I  recall  that  the  trader  at  the  San  Carlos  Agency 
once  made  a  bad  investment  of  money  in  buying  cheap  candies  ; 
they  were  nearly  all  hoarhound  and  peppermint,  which  the 
Apaches  would  not  buy  or  accept  as  a  gift. 

Tommy  had  succeeded  in  impressing  upon  the  minds  of  his 
savage  wards  the  importance  of  letting  him  know  the  moment 
anything  like  an  outbreak,  no  matter  how  slight  it  might  be, 
should  be  threatened.  There  was  to  be  no  fighting,  no  firing  of 
guns  and  pistols,  and  no  seeking  redress  for  injuries  excepting 
11 


162          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

through  the  commanding  officer,  who  was  the  court  of  last 
appeal.  One  day  "  Hualpai  Charlie  "came  running  in  like  an 
antelope,  all  out  of  breath,  his  eyes  blazing  with  excitement : 
"  Cappy  Byrne — get  yo'  sogy — heap  quick.  White  man  over  da 
Min'nul  Pa'k,  all  bloke  out/'  An  investigation  was  made,  and 
developed  the  cause  of  " Charlie's"  apprehensions  :  the  recently 
established  mining  town  of  "  Mineral  Park  "  in  the  Cerbat  range 
had  "struck  it  rich,"  and  was  celebrating  the  event  in  appropriate 
style  ;  bauds  of  miners,  more  or  less  sober,  were  staggering  about 
in  the  one  street,  painting  the  town  red.  There  was  the  usual 
amount  of  shooting  at  themselves  and  at  the  few  lamps  in  the 
two  saloons,  and  "  Charlie,"  who  had  not  yet  learned  that  one 
of  the  inalienable  rights  of  the  Caucasian  is  to  make  a  fool  of 
himself  now  and  then,  took  fright,  and  ran  in  the  whole  fourteen 
miles  to  communicate  the  first  advices  of  the  "outbreak"  to  his 
commanding  officer  and  friend. 

Captain  Byrne  was  most  conscientious  in  all  his  dealings  with 
these  wild,  suspicious  people,  and  gained  their  affection  to  an 
extent  not  to  be  credited  in  these  days,  when  there  seems  to  be 
a  recurrence  to  the  ante-bellum  theory  that  the  only  good  Indian 
— be  it  buck,  squaw,  or  puling  babe — is  the  dead  one.  I  have 
seen  the  old  man  coax  sulking  warriors  back  into  good  humor, 
and  persuade  them  that  the  best  thing  in  the  world  for  them  all 
was  the  good- will  of  the  Great  Father.  "  Come  now,  Sharum," 
I  have  heard  him  say,  "shure  phat  is  de  matther  wid  yiz  ?  Have 
yiz  ivir  axed  me  for  anythin'  that  oi  didn't  promise  it  to  yiz  ? " 

Poor  Tommy  was  cut  off  too  soon  in  life  to  redeem  all  his 
pledges,  and  I  fear  that  there  is  still  a  balance  of  unpaid  prom 
ises,  comprehending  mouth  organs,  hoop  skirts,  velocipedes, 
anything  that  struck  the  fancy  of  a  chief  and  for  which  he  made 
instant  demand  upon  his  military  patron.  To  carry  matters  for 
ward  a  little,  I  wish  to  say  that  Tommy  remained  the  "frind," 
as  he  pronounced  the  term,  of  the  Hualpais  to  the  very  last,  and 
even  after  he  had  been  superseded  by  the  civil  agent,  or  acting 
agent,  he  remained  at  the  post  respected  and  regarded  by  all  the 
tribe  as  their  brother  and  adviser. 

Like  a  flash  of  lightning  out  of  a  clear  sky,  the  Hualpais  went 
on  the  war-path,  and  fired  into  the  agency  buildings  before  leav 
ing  for  their  old  strongholds  in  the  Canon  of  the  Colorado.  No 
one  knew  why  they  had  so  suddenly  shown  this  treacherous 


BYRNE'S  BRAVE  FEAT.  163 

nature,  and  the  territorial  press  (there  was  a  telegraph  line  in 
operation  by  this  time)  was  filled  with  gloomy  forebodings  on 
account  of  the  "  well-known  treachery  of  the  Indian  character/' 
Tommy  Byrne  realized  full  well  how  much  it  would  cost  Uncle 
Sam  in  blood  and  treasure  if  this  outbreak  were  not  stopped  in 
its  incipiency,  and  without  waiting  for  his  spirited  little  horse 
to  be  saddled — he  was  a  superb  rider — threw  himself  across  its 
back  and  took  out  into  the  hills  after  the  fugitives.  When  the 
Hualpais  saw  the  cloud  of  dust  coming  out  on  the  road,  they 
blazed  into  it,  but  the  kind  Providence,  which  is  said  to  look  out 
for  the  Irish  under  all  circumstances,  took  pity  on  the  brave  old 
man,  and  spared  him  even  after  he  had  dashed  up — his  horse 
white  with  foam — to  the  knot  of  chiefs  who  stood  on  the  brow  of 
a  lava  mesa. 

At  first  the  Hualpais  were  sullen,  but  soon  they  melted  enough 
to  tell  the  story  of  their  grievances,  and  especially  the  grievance 
they  had  against  Captain  Byrne  himself.  The  new  agent  had 
been  robbing  them  in  the  most  bare-faced  manner,  and  in  their 
ignorance  they  imagined  that  it  was  Tommy  Byrne's  duty  to 
regulate  all  affairs  at  his  camp.  They  did  not  want  to  hurt  him, 
and  would  let  him  go  safely  back,  but  for  them  there  was  nothing 
but  the  war-path  and  plenty  of  it. 

Tommy  said  gently,  "  Come  back  with  me,  and  Fll  see  that 
you  are  righted."  Back  they  went,  following  after  the  one,  un 
armed  man.  Straight  to  the  beef  scales  went  the  now  thoroughly 
aroused  officer,  and  in  less  time  than  it  takes  to  relate,  he  had 
detected  the  manner  in  which  false  weights  had  been  secured  by 
a  tampering  with  the  poise.  A  two-year-old  Texas  steer,  which, 
horns  and  all,  would  not  weigh  eight  hundred  pounds,  would 
mark  seventeen  hundred,  and  other  things,  in  the  same  ratio. 
Nearly  the  whole  amount  of  the  salt  and  flour  supply  had  been 
sold  to  the  miners  in  the  Cerbat  range,  and  the  poor  Hualpais, 
who  had  been  such  valiant  and  efficient  allies,  had  been  swindled 
out  of  everything  but  their  breath,  and  but  a  small  part  of  that 
was  left. 

Tommy  seized  upon  the  agency  and  took  charge  ;  the  Hual 
pais  were  perfectly  satisfied,  but  the  agent  left  that  night  for 
California  and  never  came  back.  A  great  hubbub  was  raised 
about  the  matter,  but  nothing  came  of  it,  and  a  bitter  war  was 
averted  by  the  prompt,  decisive  action  of  a  plain,  unlettered 


164          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

officer,  who  had  110  ideas  about  managing  savages  beyond  treating 
them  with  kindness  and  justice. 

General  Crook  not  only  saw  to  the  condition  of  the  Hualpais, 
but  of  their  relatives,  the  Mojaves,  on  the  river,  and  kept  them 
both  in  good  temper  towards  the  whites  ;  not  only  this,  but  more 
than  this — he  sent  up  among  the  Pi-Utes  of  Nevada  and  Southern 
Utah  and  explained  the  situation  to  them  and  secured  the  promise 
of  a  contingent  of  one  hundred  of  their  warriors  for  service  against 
the  Apaches,  should  the  latter  decline  to  listen  to  the  propositions 
of  the  commissioner  sent  to  treat  with  them.  When  hostilities 
did  break  out,  the  Pi-Utes  sent  down  the  promised  auxiliaries, 
under  their  chief,  "Captain  Tom/'  and,  like  the  Hualpais,  they 
rendered  faithful  service. 

What  has  become  of  the  Pi-Utes  I  cannot  say,  but  of  the  Hual 
pais  I  am  sorry  to  have  to  relate  that  the  moment  hostilities 
ended,  the  Great  Father  began  to  ignore  and  neglect  them,  until 
finally  their  condition  became  so  deplorable  that  certain  fashion 
able  ladies  of  New  York,  who  were  doing  a  great  deal  of  good 
unknown  to  the  world  at  large,  sent  money  to  General  Crook  to 
be  used  in  keeping  them  from  starving  to  death. 

Liquor  is  freely  given  to  the  women,  who  have  become  fear 
fully  demoralized,  and  I  can  assert  of  my  own  knowledge  that 
five  years  since  several  photographers  made  large  sales  along  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  railroad  of  the  pictures  of  nude  women  of 
this  once  dreaded  band,  which  had  committed  no  other  offence 
than  that  of  trusting  in  the  faith  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States. 

In  the  desolate,  romantic  country  of  the  Hualpais  and  their 
brothers,  the  Ava-Supais,  amid  the  Cyclopean  monoliths  which 
line  the  canons  of  Cataract  Creek,  the  Little  Colorado,  the  Grand 
Caflon  or  the  Diamond,  one  may  sit  and  listen,  as  I  have  often 
listened,  to  the  simple  tales  and  myths  of  a  wild,  untutored  race. 
There  are  stories  to  be  heard  of  the  prowess  of  "  Mustamho  " 
and  "  Matyavela,"  of  "  Pathrax-sapa  "  and  "  Path rax-carra wee/' 
of  the  goddess  "  Cuathenya,"  and  a  multiplicity  of  deities — ani 
mal  and  human — which  have  served  to  beguile  the  time  after  the 
day's  march  had  ended  and  night  was  at  hand.  All  the  elements 
of  nature  are  actual,  visible  entities  for  these  simple  children — 
the  stars  are  possessed  of  the  same  powers  as  man,  all  the  chief 
animals  have  the  faculty  of  speech,  and  the  coyote  is  the  one 


CONVERTING  THE   HUALPAIS.  165 

who  is  man's  good  friend  and  has  brought  him  the  great  boon  of 
fire.  The  gods  of  the  Hualpais  are  different  in  name  though  not 
in  functions  or  peculiarities  from  those  of  the  Apaches  and  Nava- 
jos,  but  are  almost  identical  with  those  of  the  Mojaves. 

As  with  the  Apaches,  so  with  the  Hualpais,  the  "medicine 
men"  wield  an  unknown  and  an  immeasurable  influence,  and 
claim  power  over  the  forces  of  nature,  which  is  from  time  to 
time  renewed  by  rubbing  the  body  against  certain  sacred  stones 
not  far  from  Beale  Springs.  The  Hualpai  medicine  men  also 
indulge  in  a  sacred  intoxication  by  breaking  up  the  leaves,  twigs, 
and  root  of  the  stramonium  or  "jimson  weed,"  and  making  a 
beverage  which,  when  drank,  induces  an  exhilaration,  in  the 
course  of  which  the  drunkard  utters  prophecies. 

While  the  colonies  along  the  Atlantic  coast  were  formulating 
their  grievances  against  the  English  crown  and  preparing  to 
throw  off  all  allegiance  to  the  throne  of  Great  Britain,  two  priests 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  were  engaged  in  exploring  these 
desolate  wilds,  and  in  making  an  effort  to  win  the  Hualpais  and 
their  brothers  to  Christianity. 

Father  Escalante  started  out  from  Santa  F6,  New  Mexico,  in 
the  year  1776,  and  travelling  northwest  through  Utah  finally 
reached  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  which  he  designated  as  the  Lake  of 
the  Timpanagos.  This  name  is  perfectly  intelligible  to  those 
who  happen  to  know  of  the  existence  down  to  the  present  day  of 
the  baud  of  Utes  called  the  Timpanoags,  who  inhabit  the  cations 
close  to  the  present  city  of  Salt  Lake.  Travelling  on  foot  south 
ward,  Escalante  passed  down  through  Utah  and  crossed  the 
Grand  Gallon  of  the  Colorado,  either  at  what  is  now  known  as 
Lee's  Ferry,  or  the  mouth  of  the  Kanab  Wash,  or  the  mouth  of 
the  Diamond ;  thence  east  through  the  Moqui  and  the  Zuni  vil 
lages  back  to  Santa  Fe.  Escalante  expected  to  be  joined  near 
the  Grand  Canon  by  Father  Garces,  who  had  travelled  from  the 
mission  of  San  Gabriel,  near  Los  Angeles,  and  crossed  the  Col 
orado  in  the  country  inhabited  by  the  Mojaves ;  but,  although 
each  performed  the  part  assigned  to  him,  the  proposed  meeting 
did  not  take  place. 

It  is  impossible  to  avoid  reference  to  these  matters,  which  will 
obtrude  themselves  upon  the  mind  of  any  one  travelling  through 
Arizona.  There  is  an  ever-present  suggestion  of  the  past  and  un 
known,  that  has  a  fascination  all  its  own  for  those  who  yield  to 


166          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

it.  Thus,  at  Bowers'  Ranch  on  the  Agua  Fria,  eighteen  miles 
northeast  from  Prescott,  one  sits  down  to  his  supper  in  a  room 
which  once  formed  part  of  a  prehistoric  dwelling  ;  and  the  same 
thing  may  be  said  of  Wales  Arnold's,  over  near  Montezuma's 
Wells,  where  many  of  the  stones  used  in  the  masonry  came  from 
the  pueblo  ruins  close  at  hand. 

Having  visited  the  northern  line  of  his  department,  General 
Crook  gave  all  his  attention  to  the  question  of  supplies ;  every 
thing  consumed  in  the  department,  at  that  date,  had  to  be 
freighted  at  great  expense  from  San  Francisco,  first  by  steamship 
around  Cape  San  Lucas  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Colorado,  then 
up  the  river  in  small  steamers  as  far  as  Ehrenburg  and  Fort 
Mojave,  and  the  remainder  of  the  distance — two  hundred  miles — 
by  heavy  teams.  To  a  very  considerable  extent,  these  supplies 
were  distributed  from  post  to  post  by  pack-trains,  a  proceeding 
which  evoked  the  liveliest  remonstrances  from  the  contractors 
interested  in  the  business  of  hauling  freight,  but  their  complaints 
availed  them  nothing.  Crook  foresaw  the  demands  that  the 
near  future  would  surely  make  upon  his  pack-trains,  which  he 
could  by  no  surer  method  keep  in  the  highest  discipline  and 
efficiency  than  by  having  them  constantly  on  the  move  from  post 
to  post  carrying  supplies.  The  mules  became  hardened,  the 
packers  made  more  skilful  in  the  use  of  all  the  " hitches" — the 
"  Diamond"  and  others — constituting  the  mysteries  of  their  call 
ing,  and  the  detachments  sent  along  as  escorts  were  constantly 
learning  something  new  about  the  country  as  well  as  how  to  care 
for  themselves  and  animals. 

Sixty-two  miles  from  Prescott  to  the  southwest  lay  the  sickly 
and  dismal  post  of  Camp  Date  creek,  on  the  creek  of  the  same 
name.  Here  were  congregated  about  one  thousand  of  the  band 
known  as  the  Apache- Yumas,  with  a  sprinkling  of  Apache- 
Mojaves,  tribes  allied  to  the  Mojaves  on  the  Colorado,  and  to 
the  Hualpais,  but  differing  from  them  in  disposition,  as  the  Date 
Creek  people  were  not  all  anxious  for  peace,  but  would  now  and 
then  send  small  parties  of  their  young  men  to  raid  and  steal  from 
the  puny  settlements  like  Wickenburg.  The  culmination  of 
the  series  was  the  "Loring"  or  "Wickenburg"  massacre,  so- 
called  from  the  talented  young  scientist,  Loring,  a  member  of 
the  Wheeler  surveying  expedition,  who,  with  his  companions — 
a  stage-load — was  brutally  murdered  not  far  from  Wickenburg  ; 


TRACKING  THE  LORING  MURDERERS.  167 

of  the  party  only  two  escaped,  one  a  woman  named  Shephard, 
and  the  other  a  man  named  Kmger,  both  badly  wounded. 

General  Crook  was  soon  satisfied  that  this  terrible  outrage  had 
been  committed  by  a  portion  of  the  irreconcilable  element  at  the 
Date  Creek  Agency,  but  how  to  single  them  out  as  individuals  and 
inflict  the  punishment  their  crime  deserved,  without  entailing  dis 
aster  upon  well-meaning  men,  women,  and  babies  who  had  not 
been  implicated,  was  for  a  long  while  a  most  serious  problem. 
There  were  many  of  the  tribe  satisfied  to  cultivate  peaceful  rela 
tions  with  the  whites,  but  none  so  favorably  disposed  as  to  impart 
the  smallest  particle  of  information  in  regard  to  the  murder,  as 
it  was  no  part  of  their  purpose  to  surrender  any  of  their  relatives 
for  punishment. 

It  would  take  too  much  time  to  narrate  in  detail  the  "  patient 
search  and  vigil  long"  attending  the  ferreting  out  of  the  indi 
viduals  concerned  in  the  Loring  massacre ;  it  was  a  matter  of 
days  and  weeks  and  months,  but  Crook  knew  that  he  had  the 
right  clew,  and,  although  many  times  baffled,  he  returned  to  the 
scent  with  renewed  energy  and  determination.  The  culprits,  who 
included  in  their  ranks,  or  at  least  among  their  sympathizers, 
some  very  influential  men  of  the  tribe,  had  also  begun,  on  their 
side,  to  suspect  that  all  was  not  right ;  one  of  them,  I  under 
stood,  escaped  to  Southern  California,  and  there  found  work  in 
some  of  the  Mexican  settlements,  which  he  could  do  readily  as 
he  spoke  Spanish  fluently,  and  once  having  donned  the  raiment 
of  civilization,  there  would  be  nothing  whatever  to  distinguish 
him  from  the  average  of  people  about  him. 

Word  reached  General  Crook,  through  the  Hualpais,  that 
when  next  he  visited  Camp  Date  Creek,  he  was  to  be  murdered 
with  all  those  who  might  accompany  him.  He  was  warned  to 
be  on  the  look-out,  and  told  that  the  plan  of  the  conspirators  was 
this  :  They  would  appear  in  front  of  the  house  in  which  he 
should  take  up  his  quarters,  and  say  that  they  had  come  for  a 
talk  upon  some  tribal  matter  of  importance  ;  when  the  General 
made  his  appearance,  the  Indians  were  to  sit  down  in  a  semi 
circle  in  front  of  the  door,  each  with  his  carbine  hidden  under 
his  blanket,  or  carelessly  exposed  on  his  lap.  The  conversation 
was  to  be  decidedly  harmonious,  and  there  was  to  be  nothing  said 
that  was  not  perfectly  agreeable  to  the  whites.  After  the  ' '  talk  " 
had  progressed  a  few  minutes,  the  leading  conspirator  would 


168          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

remark  that  they  would  all  be  the  better  for  a  little  smoke,  and 
as  soon  as  the  tobacco  was  handed  out  to  them,  the  chief  con 
spirator  was  to  take  some  and  begin  rolling  a  cigarette.  (The 
Indians  of  the  southwest  do  not  ordinarily  use  the  pipe.)  When 
the  first  puff  was  taken  from  the  cigarette,  the  man  next  to  the 
chief  was  to  suddenly  level  his  weapon  and  kill  General  Crook, 
the  others  at  the  very  same  moment  taking  the  lives  of  the  whites 
closest  to  them.  The  whole  tribe  would  then  be  made  to  break 
away  from  the  reserve  and  take  to  the  inaccessible  cliffs  and  cafions 
at  the  head  of  the  Santa  Maria  fork  of  the  Bill  Williams.  The 
plan  would  have  succeeded  perfectly,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
warning  received,  and  also  for  the  fact  that  the  expected  visit 
had  to  be  made  much  sooner  than  was  anticipated,  and  thus 
prevented  all  the  gang  from  getting  together. 

Captain  Philip  Dwyer,  Fifth  Cavalry,  the  officer  in  command 
of  the  camp,  suddenly  died,  and  this  took  me  down  post-haste  to 
assume  command.  Dwyer  was  a  very  brave,  handsome,  and  intel 
ligent  soldier,  much  beloved  by  all  his  comrades.  He  was  the 
only  officer  left  at  Date  Creek — all  the  others  and  most  of  the 
garrison  were  absent  on  detached  service  of  one  kind  and  another 
— and  there  was  no  one  to  look  after  the  dead  man  but  Mr.  Wil 
bur  Ilugns,  the  post  trader,  and  myself.  The  surroundings  were 
most  dismal  and  squalid  ;  all  the  furniture  in  the  room  in  which 
the  corpse  lay  was  two  or  three  plain  wooden  chairs,  the  bed 
occupied  as  described,  and  a  pine  table  upon  which  stood  a  candle 
stick,  with  the  candle  melted  and  burned  in  the  socket.  Dwyer 
had  been  "ailing"  for  several  days,  but  no  one  could  tell  exactly 
what  was  the  matter  with  him  ;  and,  of  course,  no  one  suspected 
that  one  so  strong  and  athletic  could  be  in  danger  of  death. 

One  of  the  enlisted  men  of  his  company,  a  bright  young 
trumpeter,  was  sitting  up  with  him,  and  about  the  hour  of 
midnight,  Dwyer  became  a  trifle  uneasy  and  asked  :  "  Can  you 
sing  that  new  song,  '  Put  me  under  the  daisies '  ?  " 

"Oh,  yes,  Captain/"  replied  the  trumpeter;  "I  have  often 
sung  it,  and  will  gladly  sing  it  now." 

So  he  began  to  sing,  very  sweetly,  the  ditty,  which  seemed  to- 
calm  the  nervousness  of  his  superior  officer.  But  the  candle  had 
burned  down  in  the  socket,  and  when  the  young  soldier  went  to 
replace  it,  he  could  find  neither  candle  nor  match,  and  he  saw 
in  the  flickering  light  and  shadow  that  the  face  of  the  Captain 


CAPTAIN  DWYER'S  FUNERAL.  169 

was  strangely  set,  and  of  a  ghastly  purplish  hue.  The  trumpeter 
ran  swiftly  to  the  nearest  house  to  get  another  light,  and  to  call 
for  help,  but  upon  returning  found  the  Captain  dead. 

Many  strange  sights  have  I  seen,  but  none  that  produced  a 
stranger  or  more  pathetic  appeal  to  my  emotions  than  the  funeral 
of  Phil  Dwyer ;  we  got  together  just  as  good  an  apology  for  a 
coffin  as  that  timberless  country  would  furnish,  and  then  wrapped 
our  dead  friend  in  his  regimentals,  and  all  hands  were  then  ready 
to  start  for  the  cemetery. 

At  the  head  marched  Mr.  Hugus,  Doctor  Williams  (the 
Indian  agent),  myself,  and  Lieutenant  Hay,  of  the  Twenty-third 
Infantry,  who  arrived  at  the  post  early  in  the  morning ;  then 
came  the  troop  of  cavalry,  dismounted,  and  all  the  civilians  liv 
ing  in  and  around  the  camp;  and  lastly  every  Indian — man, 
woman,  or  child — able  to  walk  or  toddle,  for  all  of  them,  young 
or  old,  good  or  bad,  loved  Phil  Dwyer.  The  soldiers  and  civil 
ians  formed  in  one  line  at  the  head  of  the  grave,  and  the 
Apache- Yumas  in  two  long  lines  at  right  angles  to  them,  and 
on  each  side.  The  few  short,  expressive,  and  tender  sentences  of 
the  burial  service  were  read,  then  the  bugles  sang  taps,  and 
three  volleys  were  fired  across  the  hills,  the  clods  rattled  down 
on  the  breast  of  the  dead,  and  the  ceremony  was  over. 

As  soon  as  General  Crook  learned  of  the  death  of  Dwyer,  he 
hurried  to  Date  Creek,  now  left  without  any  officer  of  its  proper 
garrison,  and  informed  the  Indians  that  he  intended  having  a 
talk  with  them  on  the  morrow,  at  a  place  designated  by  himself. 
The  conspirators  thought  that  their  scheme  could  be  carried  out 
without  trouble,  especially  since  they  saw  no  signs  of  suspicion 
on  the  part  of  the  whites.  General  Crook  came  to  the  place 
appointed,  without  any  escort  of  troops,  but  carelessly  strolling 
forward  were  a  dozen  or  more  of  the  packers,  who  had  been  en 
gaged  in  all  kinds  of  melees  since  the  days  of  early  California 
mining.  Each  of  these  was  armed  to  the  teeth,  and  every 
revolver  was  on  the  full  cock,  and  every  knife  ready  for  instant 
use.  The  talk  was  very  agreeable,  and  not  an  unpleasant  word 
had  been  uttered  on  either  side,  when  all  of  a  sudden  the  Indian 
in  the  centre  asked  for  a  little  tobacco,  and,  when  it  was  handed 
to  him,  began  rolling  a  cigarette  ;  before  the  first  puff  of  smoke 
had  rolled  away  from  his  lips  one  of  the  warriors  alongside  of  him 
levelled  his  carbine  full  at  General  Crook,  and  fired.  Lieutenant 


170  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Koss,  aide-de-camp  to  the  General,  was  waiting  for  the  move 
ment,  and  struck  the  arm  of  the  murderer  so  that  the  bullet  was 
deflected  upwards,  and  the  life  of  the  General  was  saved.  The 
scrimmage  became  a  perfect  Kilkenny  fight  in  another  second  or 
two,  and  every  man  made  for  the  man  nearest  to  him,  the  Indian 
who  had  given  the  signal  being  grasped  in  the  vise-like  grip  of 
Hank  Hewitt,  with  whom  he  struggled  vainly.  Hewitt  was  a  man 
of  great  power  and  able  to  master  most  men  other  than  profes 
sional  athletes  or  prize-fighters  ;  the  Indian  was  not  going  to 
submit  so  long  as  life  lasted,  and  struggled,  bit,  and  kicked  to 
free  himself,  but  all  in  vain,  as  Hank  had  caught  him  from  the 
back  of  the  head,  and  the  red  man  was  at  a  total  disadvantage. 
Hewitt  started  to  drag  his  captive  to  the  guard-house,  but 
changed  his  mind,  and  seizing  the  Apache-Mojave  by  both  ears 
pulled  his  head  down  violently  against  the  rocks,  and  either 
broke  his  skull  or  brought  on  concussion  of  the  brain,  as  the 
Indian  died  that  night  in  the  guard-house. 

Others  of  the  party  were  killed  and  wounded,  and  still  others, 
with  the  ferocity  of  tigers,  fought  their  way  out  through  our  feeble 
lines,  and  made  their  way  to  the  point  of  rendezvous  at  the  head 
of  the  Santa  Maria.  Word  was  at  once  sent  to  them  by  members 
of  their  own  tribe  that  they  must  come  in  and  surrender  at  once, 
or  else  the  whole  party  must  expect  to  be  punished  for  what  was 
originally  the  crime  of  a  few.  No  answer  was  received,  and 
their  punishment  was  arranged  for  ;  they  were  led  to  suppose  that 
the  advance  was  to  be  made  from  Date  Creek,  but,  after  letting 
them  alone  for  several  weeks — just  long  enough  to  allay  to  some 
extent  their  suspicions — Crook  pushed  out  a  column  of  the 
Fifth  Cavalry  under  command  of  Colonel  Julius  W.  Mason,  and 
by  forced  marches  under  the  guidance  of  a  strong  detachment  of 
Hualpai  scouts,  the  encampment  of  the  hostiles  was  located  just 
where  the  Hualpais  said  it  would  be,  at  the  "  Muchos  Caflones," 
a  point  where  five  canons  united  to  form  the  Santa  Maria ;  and 
there  the  troops  and  the  scouts  attacked  suddenly  and  with  spirit, 
and  in  less  than  no  time  everything  was  in  our  hands,  and  the 
enemy  had  to  record  a  loss  of  more  than  forty.  It  was  a  terrible 
blow,  struck  at  the  beginning  of  winter  and  upon  a  band  which 
had  causelessly  slaughtered  a  stageful  of  our  best  people,  not  as 
an  act  of  war,  which  would  have  been  excusable,  but  as  an  act 
of  highway  robbery,  by  sneaking  off  the  reservation  where  the 


OUTBREAKS  IN   THE  AGUA  FRIA  VALLEY.  17] 

Government  was  allowing  them  rations  and  clothing  in  quantity 
sufficient  to  eke  out  their  own  supplies  of  wild  food.  This  action 
of  the  "Muchos  Cafiones  "  had  a  very  beneficial  effect  upon  the 
campaign  which  began  against  the  Apaches  in  the  Tonto  Basin  a 
few  weeks  later.  It  humbled  the  pride  of  those  of  the  Apache- 
Yumas  who  had  never  been  in  earnest  in  their  professions  of 
peace,  and  strengthened  the  hands  of  the  chiefs  like  "  Jam- 
aspi,"  "  Ochacama,"  "  Hoch-a-chi-waca,"  "  Quaca-thew-ya,"  and 
"  Tom,"  who  were  sincerely  anxious  to  accept  the  new  condition 
of  things.  There  was  a  third  element  in  this  tribe,  led  by  a 
chief  of  ability,  "  Chimahuevi-Sal,"  which  did  not  want  to  fight, 
if  fighting  could  be  avoided,  but  did  not  care  much  for  the 
new  white  neighbors  whom  they  saw  crowding  in  upon  them. 
"  Chimahuevi-Sal "  made  his  escape  from  the  reservation  with 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  his  followers,  intending  to  go 
down  on  the  south  side  of  the  Mexican  line  and  find  an  asylum 
among  the  Cocopahs.  They  were  pursued  and  brought  back 
without  bloodshed  by  Captain  James  Burns,  a  brave  and  humane 
officer  of  the  Fifth  Cavalry,  who  died  sixteen  years  ago  worn  out 
by  the  hard  work  demanded  in  Arizona. 

It  does  not  seem  just,  at  first  sight,  to  deny  to  Indians  the 
right  to  domicile  themselves  in  another  country  if  they  so  desire, 
and  if  a  peaceful  life  can  be  assured  them ;  but,  in  the  end,  it 
will  be  found  that  constant  visiting  will  spring  up  between  the 
people  living  in  the  old  home  and  the  new,  and  all  sorts  of 
complications  are  sure  to  result.  The  Apache-Mojaves  and  the 
Apache-Tontos,  living  in  the  Tonto  Basin,  misapprehending  the 
reasons  for  the  cessation  of  scouting  against  them,  had  become 
emboldened  to  make  a  series  of  annoying  and  destructive  attacks 
upon  the  ranches  in  the  Agua  Fria  Valley,  upon  those  near 
Wickenburg,  and  those  near  what  is  now  the  prosperous  town 
of  Phoenix,  in  the  Salt  River  Valley.  Their  chiefs  "Delt-che" 
(The  Red  Ant)  and  "  Cha-lipun  "  (The  Buckskin-colored  Hat) 
were  brave,  bold,  able,  and  enterprising,  and  rightfully  regarded 
as  among  the  worst  enemies  the  white  men  ever  had.  The  own 
ers  of  two  of  the  ranches  attacked  were  very  peculiar  persons. 
One  of  them,  Townsend,  of  the  Dripping  Springs  in  the  Middle 
Agua  Fria,  was  supposed  to  be  a  half-breed  Cherokee  from  the 
Indian  Nation ;  he  certainly  had  all  the  looks — the  snapping 
black  eyes,  the  coal-black,  long,  lank  hair,  and  the  swarthy  skin — 


172  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

of  the  full-blooded  aborigine,  with  all  the  cunning,  shrewdness, 
contempt  for  privation  and  danger,  and  ability  to  read  ''sign," 
that  distinguish  the  red  men.  It  was  his  wont  at  the  appear 
ance  of  the  new  moon,  when  raiding  parties  of  Apaches  might  be 
expected,  to  leave  his  house,  make  a  wide  circuit  in  the  moun 
tains  and  return,  hoping  to  be  able  to  "cut"  the  trail  of  some 
prowlers  ;  if  he  did,  he  would  carefully  secrete  himself  in  the 
rocks  on  the  high  hills  overlooking  his  home,  and  wait  until  the 
Apaches  would  make  some  movement  to  let  him  discover  where 
they  were  and  what  they  intended  doing. 

He  was  a  dead  shot,  cunning  as  a  snake,  wily  and  brave,  and 
modest  at  the  same  time,  and  the  general  belief  was  that  he  had 
sent  twenty-seven  Apaches  to  the  Happy  Hunting  Grounds. 
Townsend  and  Boggs,  his  next-door  neighbor  who  lived  a  mile  or 
two  from  him,  had  made  up  their  minds  that  they  would  "  farm  " 
in  the  fertile  bottom  lands  of  the  Agua  Fria  ;  the  Apaches  had 
made  up  their  minds  that  they  should  not ;  hence  it  goes  with 
out  saying  that  neither  Townsend  nor  Boggs,  nor  any  of  their 
hired  men,  ever  felt  really  lonesome  in  the  seclusion  of  their 
lovely  valley.  The  sequel  to  this  story  is  the  sequel  to  all  such 
stories  about  early  Arizona  :  the  Apaches  "got  him"  at  last, 
and  my  friend  Townsend  has  long  been  sleeping  his  last  sleep 
under  the  shadow  of  a  huge  bowlder  within  a  hundred  yards  of 
his  home  at  the  "  Dripping  Springs." 

The  antipodes  of  Townsend's  rancho,  as  its  proprietor  was  the 
antipodes  of  Townsend  himself,  was  the  "  station  "  of  Barrel 
Duppa  at  the  "sink"  of  the  same  Agua  Fria,  some  fifty  miles 
below.  Darrel  Duppa  was  one  of  the  queerest  specimens  of 
humanity,  as  his  ranch  was  one  of  the  queerest  examples  to  be 
found  in  Arizona,  and  I  might  add  in  New  Mexico  and  Sonora 
as  well.  There*  was  nothing  superfluous  about  Duppa  in  the  way 
of  flesh,  neither  was  there  anything  about  the  "station"  that 
could  be  regarded  as  superfluous,  either  in  furniture  or  ornament. 
Duppa  was  credited  with  being  the  wild,  harum-scarum  son  of 
an  English  family  of  respectability,  his  father  having  occupied  a 
position  in  the  diplomatic  or  consular  service  of  Great  Britain, 
and  the  son  having  been  born  in  Marseilles.  Rumor  had  it  that 
Duppa  spoke  several  languages — French,  Spanish,  Italian,  Ger 
man — that  he  understood  the  classics,  and  that,  when  sober,  he 
used  faultless  English.  I  can  certify  to  his  employment  of  excel- 


DUPPA  AND  HIS  RAMADA.  173 

lent  French  and  Spanish,  and  what  had  to  my  ears  the  sound 
of  pretty  good  Italian,  and  I  know  too  that  he  was  hospitable  to 
a  fault,  and  not  afraid  of  man  or  devil.  Three  bullet  wounds, 
received  in  three  different  fights  with  the  Apaches,  attested  his 
grit,  although  they  might  not  be  accepted  as  equally  conclusive 
evidence  of  good  judgment.  The  site  of  his  " location"  was 
in  the  midst  of  the  most  uncompromising  piece  of  desert  in  a 
region  which  boasts  of  possessing  more  desert  land  than  any 
other  territory  in  the  Union.  The  surrounding  hills  and  mesas 
yielded  a  perennial  crop  of  cactus,  and  little  of  anything  else. 

The  dwelling  itself  was  nothing  but  a  "ramada,"  a  term  which 
has  already  been  defined  as  a  roof  of  branches  ;  the  walls  were  of 
rough,  unplastered  wattle  work,  of  the  thorny  branches  of  the 
ironwood,  no  thicker  than  a  man's  finger,  which  were  lashed  by 
thongs  of  raw-hide  to  horizontal  slats  of  cottonwood ;  the  floor 
of  the  bare  earth,  of  course — that  almost  went  without  saying  in 
those  days — and  the  furniture  rather  too  simple  and  meagre  even 
for  Carthusians.  As  I  recall  the  place  to  mind,  there  appears 
the  long,  unpainted  table  of  pine,  which  served  for  meals  or 
gambling,  or  the  rare  occasions  when  any  one  took  into  his  head 
the  notion  to  write  a  letter.  This  room  constituted  the  ranch 
in  its  entirety.  Along  the  sides  were  scattered  piles  of  blankets, 
which  about  midnight  were  spread  out  as  couches  for  tired 
laborers  or  travellers.  At  one  extremity,  a  meagre  array  of 
Dutch  ovens,  flat-irons,  and  frying-pans  revealed  the  "kitchen/' 
presided  over  by  a  hirsute,  husky-voiced  gnome,  half  Vulcan, 
half  Centaur,  who,  immersed  for  most  of  the  day  in  the  mys 
teries  of  the  larder,  at  stated  intervals  broke  the  stillness  with 
the  hoarse  command  :  "  Hash  pile  !  Come  a'  runnin'  I"  There 
is  hardly  any  use  to  describe  the  rifles,  pistols,  belts  of  ammuni 
tion,  saddles,  spurs,  and  whips,  which  lined  the  walls,  and  cov 
ered  the  joists  and  cross-beams ;  they  were  just  as  much  part 
and  parcel  of  the  establishment  as  the  dogs  and  ponies  were.  To 
keep  out  the  sand-laden  wind,  which  blew  fiercely  down  from 
the  north  when  it  wasn't  blowing  down  with  equal  fierceness  from 
the  south,  or  the  west,  or  the  east,  strips  of  canvas  or  gunny- 
sacking  were  tacked  on  the  inner  side  of  the  cactus  branches. 

My  first  visit  to  this  Elysium  was  made  about  midnight,  and  I 
remember  that  the  meal  served  up  was  unique  if  not  absolutely 
paralyzing  on  the  score  of  originality.  There  was  a  great  plenty 


174          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

of  Mexican  figs  in  raw-hide  sacks,  fairly  good  tea,  which  had  the 
one  great  merit  of  hotness,  and  lots  and  lots  of  whiskey ;  but 
there  was  no  bread,  as  the  supply  of  flour  had  run  short,  and,  on 
account  of  the  appearance  of  Apaches  during  the  past  few  days, 
it  had  not  been  considered  wise  to  send  a  party  over  to  Phoenix 
for  a  replenishment.  A  wounded  Mexican,  lying  down  in  one 
corner,  was  proof  that  the  story  was  well  founded.  All  the  light 
in  the  ranch  was  afforded  by  a  single  stable  lantern,  by  the 
nickering  flames  from  the  cook's  fire,  and  the  glinting  stars.  In 
our  saddle-bags  we  had  several  slices  of  bacon  and  some  biscuits, 
so  we  did  not  fare  half  so  badly  as  we  might  haye  done.  What 
caused  me  most  wonder  was  why  Duppa  had  ever  concluded  to 
live  in  such  a  forlorn  spot ;  the  best  answer  I  could  get  to  my 
queries  was  that  the  Apaches  had  attacked  him  at  the  moment 
he  was  approaching  the  banks  of  the  Agua  Fria  at  this  point, 
and  after  he  had  repulsed  them  he  thought  he  would  stay  there 
merely  to  let  them  know  he  could  do  it.  This  explanation  was 
satisfactory  to  every  one  else,  and  I  had  to  accept  it. 

We  should,  before  going  farther,  cast  a  retrospective  glance 
upon  the  southern  part  of  the  territory,  where  the  Apaches  were 
doing  some  energetic  work  in  be-devilling  the  settlers  ;  there  were 
raids  upon  Montgomery's  at  "  Tres  Alamos/'  the  "Cienaga," 
and  other  places  not  very  remote  from  Tucson,  and  the  Chiri- 
cahuas  apparently  had  come  up  from  Sonora  bent  upon  a  mission 
of  destruction.  They  paid  particular  attention  to  the  country 
about  Fort  Bowie  and  the  San  Simon,  and  had  several  brushes 
with  Captain  Gerald  Russell's  Troop  "  K  "  of  the  Third  Cavalry. 
While  watering  his  horses  in  the  narrow,  high,  rock-walled  defile 
in  the  Dragoon  Mountains,  known  on  the  frontier  at  that  time 
as  "Cocheis's  Stronghold,"  Russell  was  unexpectedly  assailed  by 
Cocheis  and  his  band,  the  first  intimation  of  the  presence  of  the 
Chiricahuas  being  the  firing  of  the  shot,  which,  striking  the 
guide,  Bob  Whitney,  in  the  head,  splashed  his  brains  out  upon 
Russell's  face.  Poor  Bob  Whitney  was  an  unusually  handsome 
fellow,  of  great  courage  and  extended  service  against  the  Apaches ; 
he  had  been  wounded  scores  of  times,  I  came  near  saying,  but  to 
be  exact,  he  had  been  wounded  at  least  half  a  dozen  times  by 
both  bullets  and  arrows.  He  and  Maria  Jilda  Grijalva,  an 
escaped  Mexican  prisoner,  who  knew  every  foot  of  the  southern 


STEWARD  AMBUSHED.  175 

Apache  country,  had  been  guides  for  the  commands  of  Winters 
and  Russell,  and  had  seen  about  as  much  hard  work  as  men  care 
to  see  in  a  whole  generation. 

So  far  as  the  army  was  concerned,  the  most  distressing  of  all 
these  skirmishes  and  ambuscades  was  that  in  which  Lieutenant 
Reid  T.  Steward  lost  his  life  in  company  with  Corporal  Black, 
of  his  regiment,  the  Fifth  Cavalry.  They  were  ambushed  near 
the  spring  in  the  Davidson  Canon,  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles 
from  Tucson,  and  both  were  killed  at  the  same  moment. 


CHAPTER    X. 

CROOK  BEGINS  HIS  CAMPAIGN — THE  WINTER  MARCH  ACROSS 
THE  MOGOLLON  PLATEAU — THE  GREAT  PINE  BELT — BOBBY- 
DOKLINNY,  THE  MEDICINE  MAN — COOLEY  AND  HIS  APACHE 
WIFE — THE  APACHE  CHIEF  ESQUINOSQUIZN — THE  APACHE 
GUIDE  NANAAJE— THE  FEAST  OF  DEAD-MULE  MEAT— THE 
FIGHT  IN  THE  CAVE  IN  THE  SALT  RIVER  CANON — THE 
DEATH-CHANT — THE  CHARGE — THE  DYING  MEDICINE  MAN 
— THE  SCENE  IN  THE  CAVE. 

SO  long  as  the  representative  of  the  Government,  Mr.  Vincent 
Collyer,  remained  in  Arizona  ;  so  long  as  there  flickered 
the  feeblest  ray  of  light  and  hope  that  hostilities  might  be  averted 
and  peace  secured,  Crook  persisted  in  keeping  his  troops  ready 
to  defend  the  exposed  ranches  and  settlements  as  fully  as  possi 
ble,  but  no  offensive  movements  were  permitted,  lest  the  Apaches 
should  have  reason  to  believe  that  our  people  meant  treachery, 
and  were  cloaking  military  operations  under  the  mask  of  peace 
negotiations.  These  conferences,  or  attempts  at  conferences, 
came  to  naught,  and  at  last,  about  the  date  of  the  attack  made 
upon  General  Crook  and  his  party  at  Camp  Date  Creek,  orders 
were  received  to  drive  the  Apaches  upon  the  reservations  assigned 
them  and  to  keep  them  there. 

The  time  fixed  by  General  Crook  for  the  beginning  of  his 
campaign  against  the  Apaches  had  been  the  15th  of  November, 
1872 — a  date  which  would  have  marked  the  beginning  of  winter 
and  made  the  retreat  of  the  different  bands  to  the  higher  ele 
vations  of  the  mountain  ranges  a  source  of  great  discomfort,  not 
to  say  of  suffering  to  them,  as  their  almost  total  want  of  clothing 
would  cause  them  to  feel  the  fullest  effects  of  the  colder  temper 
ature,  and  also  there  would  be  increased  danger  of  detection  by 
the  troops,  to  whose  eyes,  or  those  of  the  Indian  scouts  accom 
panying  them,  all  smokes  from  camp-fires  would  be  visible. 

The  incident  just  related  as  happening  at  Camp  Date  Creek 


THE  COLORADO  PLATEAU.  177 

precipitated  matters  somewhat,  but  not  to  a  very  appreciable 
extent,  since  Mason's  attack  upon  the  bands  of  Apache-Mo- 
javes  and  Apache- Yumas  in  the  "  Muchos  Canones "  did  not 
take  place  until  the  last  days  of  the  month  of  September,  and 
those  bands  having  but  slender  relations  with  the  other  portions 
of  the  Apache  family  over  in  the  Tonto  Basin,  the  latter  would 
not  be  too  much  on  their  guard.  Crook  started  out  from  his 
headquarters  at  Fort  Whipple  on  the  day  set,  and  marched  as 
fast  as  his  animals  would  carry  him  by  way  of  Camp  Verde  and 
the  Colorado  Chiquito  to  Camp  Apache,  a  distance,  as  the  roads 
and  trails  then  measured,  of  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles. 
Upon  the  summit  of  the  Colorado  plateau,  which  in  places  attains 
an  elevation  of  more  than  ten  thousand  feet,  the  cold  was  intense, 
and  we  found  every  spring  and  creek  frozen  solid,  thus  making 
the  task  of  watering  our  stock  one  of  great  difficulty. 

Our  line  of  march  led  through  the  immense  pine  forests, 
and  to  the  right  of  the  lofty  snow-mantled  peak  of  San  Francisco, 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  mountains  in  America.  It  seems  to  have 
been,  at  some  period  not  very  remote,  a  focus  of  volcanic  disturb 
ance,  pouring  out  lava  in  inconceivable  quantities,  covering  the 
earth  for  one  hundred  miles  square,  and  to  a  depth  in  places  of  five 
hundred  feet.  This  depth  can  be  ascertained  by  any  geologist 
who  will  take  the  trail  out  from  the  station  of  Ash  Fork,  on  the 
present  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Railroad,  and  go  north-northeast,  to 
the  Cataract  Canon,  to  the  village  of  the  Ava-Supais.  In  begin 
ning  the  descent  towards  the  Cataract  Canon,  at  the  "  Black 
Tanks,"  the  enormous  depth  of  the  "  flow  "  can  be  seen  at  a  glance. 
What  was  the  "  forest  primeval "  at  that  time  on  the  Mogollon 
has  since  been  raided  by  the  rapacious  forces  of  commerce,  and  at 
one  point — Flagstaff,  favorably  located  in  the  timber  belt. — has 
since  been  established  the  great  Ayers-Riordan  saw  and  planing 
mill,  equipped  with  every  modern  appliance  for  the  destruction 
of  the  old  giants  whose  heads  had  nodded  in  the  breezes  of  cent 
uries.  Man's  inhumanity  to  man  is  an  awful  thing.  His  inhu 
manity  to  God's  beautiful  trees  is  scarcely  inferior  to  it.  Trees 
are  nearly  human  ;  they  used  to  console  man  with  their  oracles, 
and  I  must  confess  my  regret  that  the  Christian  dispensation  has 
so  changed  the  opinions  of  the  world  that  the  soughing  of  the 
evening  wind  through  their  branches  is  no  longer  a  message  of 


178          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

hope  or  a  solace  to  sorrow.  Reflection  tells  me  that  without  the 
use  of  this  great  belt  of  timber  the  construction  of  the  railroad 
from  El  Paso  to  the  City  of  Mexico  would  have  been  attended 
with  increased  expense  and  enhanced  difficulty — perhaps  post 
poned  for  a  generation — but,  for  all  that,  I  cannot  repress  a  sen 
timent  of  regret  that  the  demands  of  civilization  have  caused  the 
denudation  of  so  many  square  miles  of  our  forests  in  all  parts  of 
the  timbered  West. 

Our  camp  was  aroused  every  morning  at  two  o'clock,  and  we 
were  out  on  the  road  by  four,  making  long  marches  and  not  halt 
ing  until  late  in  the  afternoon.  Camp  Apache  was  reached  by  the 
time  expected,  and  the  work  of  getting  together  a  force  of  scouts 
begun  at  once.  One  of  the  first  young  men  to  respond  to  the  call 
for  scouts  to  enlist  in  the  work  of  ferreting  out  and  subjugating 
the  hostiles  was  "  Na-kay-do-klunni,"  called  afterwards  by  the 
soldiers  "  Bobby  Doklinny."  I  have  still  in  my  possession,  among 
other  papers,  the  scrap  of  manuscript  upon  which  is  traced  in 
lead  pencil  the  name  of  this  Apache,  whom  I  enrolled  among  the 
very  first  at  Camp  Apache  on  this  occasion.  The  work  of  enlist 
ment  was  afterwards  turned  over  to  Lieutenant  Alexander  0. 
Brodie,  of  the  First  Cavalry,  as  I  was  obliged  to  leave  with  Gen 
eral  Crook  for  the  south.  "  Bobby/'  to  adopt  the  soldiers' 
name,  became  in  his  maturity  a  great  "  medicine  man  "  among 
his  people,  and  began  a  dance  in  which  he  used  to  raise  the 
spirits  of  his  ancestors.  Of  course,  he  scared  the  people  of  the 
United  States  out  of  their  senses,  and  instead  of  offering  him  a 
bonus  for  all  the  ghosts  he  could  bring  back  to  life,  the  troops 
were  hurried  hither  and  thither,  and  there  was  an  "outbreak," 
as  is  always  bound  to  be  the  case  under  such  circumstances. 
"  Bobby  Doklinny  "  was  killed,  and  with  him  a  number  of  his 
tribe,  while  on  our  side  there  was  grief  for  the  death  of  brave 
officers  and  gallant  men. 

One  of  the  white  men  met  at  Camp  Apache  was  Corydon  E. 
Cooley,  who  had  married  a  woman  of  the  Sierra  Blanca  band, 
and  had  acquired  a  very  decided  influence  over  them.  Cooley's 
efforts  were  consistently  in  the  direction  of  bringing  about  a 
better  understanding  between  the  two  races,  and  so  far  as 
"  Pedro's  "  and  "  Miguel's "  people  were  concerned,  his  exer 
tions  bore  good  fruit.  But  it  is  of  Mrs.  Cooley  I  wish  to  speak 


COOLEY'S  RANCH.  179 

at  this  moment.  She  was,  and  I  hope  still  is,  because  I  trust 
that  she  is  still  alive,  a  woman  of  extraordinary  character,  anx 
ious  to  advance  and  to  have  her  children  receive  all  the  benefits 
of  education.  She  tried  hard  to  learn,  and  was  ever  on  the  alert 
to  imitate  the  housekeeping  of  the  few  ladies  who  followed  their 
husbands  down  to  Camp  Apache,  all  of  whom  took  a  great  and 
womanly  interest  in  the  advancement  of  their  swarthy  sister.  On 
my  way  back  from  the  snake  dance  of  the  Moquis  I  once  dined 
at  Cooley's  ranch  in  company  with  Mr.  Peter  Moran,  the  artist, 
and  can  assure  my  readers  that  the  little  home  we  entered  was 
as  clean  as  homes  generally  are,  and  that  the  dinner-served  was 
as  good  as  any  to  be  obtained  in  Delmonico's. 

For  those  readers  who  care  to  learn  of  such  things  I  insert  a 
brief  description  of  "  Cooley's  Banch"  as  we  found  it  in  that  year, 
1881,  of  course  many  years  after  the  Apaches  had  been  subdued. 
The  ranch  was  on  the  summit  of  the  Mogollon  plateau,  at  its 
eastern  extremity,  near  the  head  of  Show  Low  Creek,  one  of  the 
affluents  of  the  Shevlons  Fork  of  the  Colorado  Chiquito.  The 
contour  of  the  plateau  is  here  a  charming  series  of  gentle  hills 
and  dales,  the  hills  carpeted  with  juicy  black  "grama,"  and 
spangled  with  flowers  growing  at  the  feet  of  graceful  pines  and 
majestic  oaks  ;  and  the  dales,  watered  by  babbling  brooks  flow 
ing  through  fields  of  ripening  corn  and  potatoes.  In  the  centre 
of  a  small  but  exquisitely  beautiful  park,  studded  with  pine  trees 
without  undergrowth,  stood  the  frame  house  and  the  outbuild 
ings  of  the  ranch  we  were  seeking.  Cooley  was  well  provided 
with  every  creature  comfort  to  be  looked  for  in  the  most  pros 
perous  farming  community  in  the  older  States.  His  fields  and 
garden  patches  were  yielding  bountifully  of  corn,  pumpkins, 
cucumbers,  wheat,  peas,  beans,  cabbage,  potatoes,  barley,  oats, 
strawberries,  gooseberries,  horse-radish,  and  musk-melons.  He 
had  set  out  an  orchard  of  apple,  crab,  dwarf  pear,  peach,  apricot, 
quince,  plum,  and  cherry  trees,  and  could  supply  any  reasonable 
demand  for  butter,  cream,  milk,  eggs,  or  fresh  meat  from  his 
poultry  yard  or  herd  of  cows  and  drove  of  sheep.  There  was  an 
ice-house  well  filled,  two  deep  wells,  and  several  springs  of  pure 
water.  The  house  was  comfortably  furnished,  lumber  being 
plenty  and  at  hand  from  the  saw-mill  running  on  the  property. 

Four  decidedly  pretty  gipsy-like  little  girls  assisted  their 
mother  in  gracefully  doing  the  honors  to  the  strangers,  and  con- 


180          ON"  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

ducted  us  to  a  table  upon  which  smoked  a  perfectly  cooked  meal 
of  Irish  stew  of  mutton,  home-made  bread,  boiled  and  stewed 
mushrooms — plucked  since  our  arrival — fresh  home-made  but 
ter,  buttermilk,  peas  and  beans  from  the  garden,  and  aromatic 
coffee.  The  table  itself  was  neatly  spread,  and  everything  was 
well  served.  If  one  Apache  woman  can  teach  herself  all  this,  it 
does  not  seem  to  be  hoping  for  too  much  when  I  express  the 
belief  that  in  a  few  years  others  may  be  encouraged  to  imitate 
her  example.  I  have  inherited  from  General  Crook  a  strong 
belief  in  this  phase  of  the  Indian  problem.  Let  the  main  work 
be  done  with  the  young  women,  in  teaching  them  how  to  cook, 
and  what  to  cook,  and  how  to  become  good  housekeepers,  and 
the  work  will  be  more  than  half  finished.  In  all  tribes  the  influ 
ence  of  the  women,  although  silent,  is  most  potent.  Upon  the 
squaws  falls  the  most  grievous  part  of  the  burden  of  war,  and  if 
they  can  be  made  to  taste  the  luxuries  of  civilized  life,  and  to 
regard  them  as  necessaries,  the  idea  of  resuming  hostilities  will 
year  by  year  be  combated  with  more  vigor.  It  was  upon  this 
principle  that  the  work  of  missionary  effort  was  carried  on  among 
the  Canadian  tribes,  and  we  see  how,  after  one  or  two  genera 
tions  of  women  had  been  educated,  all  trouble  disappeared,  and 
the  best  of  feeling  between  the  two  races  was  developed  and 
maintained  for  all  time. 

From  Camp  Apache  to  old  Camp  Grant  was  by  the  trail  a  trifle 
over  one  hundred  miles,  but  over  a  country  so  cut  up  with  canons, 
and  so  rocky,  that  the  distance  seemed  very  much  greater.  The 
canon  of  the  Prieto  or  Black  Eiver,  the  passage  of  the  Apache 
range,  the  descent  of  the  Aravaypa,  were  all  considered  and  with 
justice  to  be  specially  severe  upon  the  muscles  and  nerves  of 
travellers,  not  only  because  of  depth  and  steepness,  but  also 
because  the  trail  was  filled  with  loose  stones  which  rolled  from 
under  the  careless  tread,  and  wrenched  the  feet  and  ankles  of 
the  unwary. 

Of  the  general  character  of  the  approaches  to  old  Camp  Grant, 
enough  has  already  been  written  in  the  earlier  chapters.  I  wish 
to  add  that  the  marches  were  still  exceptionally  long  and  severe, 
as  General  Crook  was  determined  to  arrive  on  time,  as  promised 
to  the  chiefs  who  were  expecting  him.  On  account  of  getting 
entangled  in  the  canons  back  of  the  Picacho  San  Carlos,  it  took 
us  more  than  twenty-four  hours  to  pass  over  the  distance  between 


THE  CAMPAIGN  BEGUN  IN  EARNEST.  181 

the  Black  River  and  the  mouth  of  the  San  Carlos,  the  start  being 
made  at  six  o'clock  one  day,  and  ending  at  eight  o'clock  the  next 
morning,  a  total  of  twenty-six  hours  of  marching  and  climbing. 
Every  one  in  the  command  was  pretty  well  tired  out,  and  glad  to 
throw  himself  down  with  head  on  saddle,  just  as  soon  as  horses 
and  mules  could  be  lariated  on  grass  and  pickets  established,  but 
General  Crook  took  his  shot-gun  and  followed  up  the  Gila  a  mile 
or  two,  and  got  a  fine  mess  of  reed  birds  for  our  breakfast.  It 
was  this  insensibility  to  fatigue,  coupled  with  a  contempt  for 
danger,  or  rather  with  a  skill  in  evading  all  traps  that  might  be 
set  for  him,  which  won  for  Crook  the  admiration  of  all  who 
served  with  him  ;  there  was  no  private  soldier,  no  packer,  no 
teamster,  who  could  "  down  the  ole  man  "in  any  work,  or  outlast 
him  on  a  march  or  a  climb  over  the  rugged  peaks  of  Arizona  ;  they 
knew  that,  and  they  also  knew  that  in  the  hour  of  danger  Crook 
would  be  found  on  the  skirmish  line,  and  not  in  the  telegraph  office. 

At  old  Camp  Grant,  the  operations  of  the  campaign  began  in 
earnest ;  in  two  or  three  days  the  troops  at  that  post  were  ready  to 
move  out  under  command  of  Major  Brown,  of  the  Fifth  Cavalry, 
and  the  general  plan  of  the  campaign  unfolded  itself.  It  was  to 
make  a  clean  sweep  of  the  Tonto  Basin,  the  region  in  which  the 
hostiles  had  always  been  so  successful  in  eluding  and  defying  the 
troops,  and  this  sweep  was  to  be  made  by  a  number  of  converging 
columns,  each  able  to  look  out  for  itself,  each  provided  with  a 
force  of  Indian  scouts,  each  followed  by  a  pack-train  with  all 
needful  supplies,  and  each  led  by  officers  physically  able  to  go 
almost  anywhere.  After  the  centre  of  the  Basin  had  been  reached, 
if  there  should  be  no  decisive  action  in  the  meantime,  these  com 
mands  were  to  turn  back  and  break  out  in  different  directions, 
scouring  the  country,  so  that  no  nook  or  corner  should  be  left 
unexamined.  The  posts  were  stripped  of  the  last  available  officer 
and  man,  the  expectation  being  that,  by  closely  pursuing  the 
enemy,  but  little  leisure  would  be  left  him  for  making  raids  upon 
our  settlements,  either  military  or  civil,  and  that  the  constant 
movements  of  the  various  detachments  would  always  bring  some 
within  helping  distance  of  beleaguered  stations. 

General  Crook  kept  at  the  front,  moving  from  point  to  point, 
along  the  whole  periphery,  and  exercising  complete  personal 
supervision  of  the  details,  but  leaving  the  movements  from  each 
post  under  the  control  of  the  officers  selected  for  the  work. 


182          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Major  G-eorge  M.  Randall,  Twenty- third  Infantry,  managed 
affairs  at  Camp  Apache,  having  under  him  as  chief  of  scouts, 
Mr.  C.  E.  Cooley,  of  whom  mention  has  just  been  made.  Major 
George  F.  Price,  Fifth  Cavalry,  commanded  from  Date  Creek. 
Major  Alexander  MacGregor,  First  Cavalry,  had  the  superinten 
dence  of  the  troops  to  move  out  from  Fort  Whipple  ;  Colonel 
Julius  W.  Mason,  Fifth  Cavalry,  of  those  to  work  down  from 
Camp  Hualpai,  while  those  of  the  post  of  Camp  MacDowell  were 
commanded  by  Captain  James  Burns,  Fifth  Cavalry.  Colonel  C. 
C.  C.  Carr,  First  Cavalry,  led  those  from  Verde.  All  these 
officers  were  experienced,  and  of  great  discretion  and  good  judg 
ment.  Each  and  all  did  excellent  work  and  struck  blow  after 
blow  upon  the  savages. 

Before  starting  out,  General  Crook's  instructions  were  commu 
nicated  to  both  Indian  scouts  and  soldiers  at  Camp  Grant ;  as 
they  were  of  the  same  tenor  as  those  already  given  at  other  posts, 
I  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to  repeat  them  for  each  post. 
Briefly,  they  directed  that  the  Indians  should  be  induced  to  sur 
render  in  all  cases  where  possible  ;  where  they  preferred  to  fight, 
they  were  to  get  all  the  fighting  they  wanted,  and  in  one  good 
dose  instead  of  in  a  number  of  petty  engagements,  but  in  either 
case  were  to  be  hunted  down  until  the  last  one  in  hostility  had 
been  killed  or  captured.  Every  effort  should  be  made  to  avoid 
the  killing  of  women  and  children.  Prisoners  of  either  sex 
should  be  guarded  from  ill-treatment  of  any  kind.  When  pris 
oners  could  be  induced  to  enlist  as  scouts,  they  should  be  so 
enlisted,  because  the  wilder  the  Apache  was,  the  more  he  was 
likely  to  know  of  the  wiles  and  stratagems  of  those  still  out  in  the 
mountains,  their  hiding-places  and  intentions.  No  excuse  .was 
to  be  accepted  for  leaving  a  trail ;  if  horses  played  out,  the  enemy 
must  be  followed  on  foot,  and  no  sacrifice  should  be  left  untried 
to  make  the  campaign  short,  sharp,  and  decisive. 

Lieutenant  and  Brevet  Major  William  J.  Ross,  Twenty-first 
Infantry,  and  myself  were  attached  to  the  command  of  Major 
Brown,  to  operate  from  Camp  Grant,  through  the  Mescal,  Pinal, 
Superstition,  and  Matitzal  ranges,  over  to  Camp  MacDowell  and 
there  receive  further  instructions.  Before  leaving  the  post,  I  had 
to  record  a  very  singular  affair  which  goes  to  show  how  thoroughly 
self-satisfied  and  stupid  officialism  can  always  become  if  properly 
encouraged.  There  was  a  Roman  Catholic  priest  dining  at  our 


STUPID  OFFICIALISM.  183 

mess — Father  Antonio  Jouvenceau — who  had  been  sent  out  from 
Tucson  to  try  and  establish  a  mission  among  the  bands  living  in 
the  vicinity  of  Camp  Apache.  There  wasn't  anything  in  the 
shape  of  supplies  in  the  country  outside  of  the  army  stores,  and 
of  these  the  missionary  desired  permission  to  buy  enough  to  keep 
himself  alive  until  he  could  make  other  arrangements,  or  become 
accustomed  to  the  wild  food  of  such  friends  as  he  might  make 
among  the  savages.  Every  request  he  made  was  refuse,d  on  the 
ground  that  there  was  no  precedent.  I  know  that  there  was  "  no 
precedent "  for  doing  anything  to  bring  savages  to  a  condition  of 
peace,  but  I  have  never  ceased  to  regret  that  there  was  not,  because 
I  feel  sure  that  had  the  slightest  encouragement  been  given  to 
Father  Antonio  or  to  a  handful  of  men  like  him,  the  wildest  of 
the  Apaches  might  have  been  induced  to  listen  to  reason,  and 
there  would  have  been  no  such  expensive  wars.  A  missionary 
could  not  well  be  expected  to  load  himself  down  with  supplies 
and  carry  them  on  his  own  back  while  he  was  hunting  favorable 
specimens  of  the  Indians  upon  whom  to  make  an  impression. 
There  were  numbers  of  Mexican  prisoners  among  the  Apaches 
who  retained  enough  respect  for  the  religion  of  their  childhood 
to  be  from  first  acquaintance  the  firm  and  devoted  friends  of  the 
new-comer,  and  once  set  on  a  good  basis  in  the  Apache  villages, 
the  rest  would  have  been  easy.  This,  however,  is  merely  conjec 
ture  on  my  part. 

The  new  recruits  from  among  the  Apaches  were  under  the 
command  of  a  chief  responding  to  the  name  of  "Esquinosquizn/' 
meaning  "Bocon"  or  Big  Mouth.  He  was  crafty,  cruel,  daring, 
and  ambitious ;  he  indulged  whenever  he  could  in  the  intoxicant 
"Tizwin,"  made  of  fermented  corn  and  really  nothing  but  a 
sour  beer  which  will  not  intoxicate  unless  the  drinker  subject 
himself,  as  the  Apache  does,  to  a  preliminary  fast  of  from  two  to 
four  days.  This  indulgence  led  to  his  death  at  San  Carlos  some 
months  later.  The  personnel  of  Brown's  command  was  excellent ; 
it  represented  soldiers  of  considerable  experience  and  inured  to 
all  the  climatic  variations  to  be  expected  in  Arizona,  and  nowhere 
else  in  greater  degree.  There  were  two  companies  of  the  Fifth 
Cavalry,  and  a  detachment  of  thirty  Apache  scouts,  that  being 
as  many  as  could  be  apportioned  to  each  command  in  the  initial 
stages  of  the  campaign.  Captain  Alfred  B.  Taylor,  Lieutenant 
Jacob  Almy,  Lieutenant  William  J.  Eoss,  and  myself  constituted 


184          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

the  commissioned  list,  until,  at  a  point  in  the  Superstition  Moun 
tains,  we  were  joined  by  Captain  James  Burns  and  First  Lieu 
tenant  Earl  D.  Thomas,  Fifth  Cavalry,  with  Company  G  of 
that  regiment,  and  a  large  body — not  quite  one  hundred — 
of  Pima  Indians.  In  addition  to  the  above  we  had  Archie  Mac 
intosh,  Joe  Felmer,  and  Antonio  Besias  as  guides  and  interpreters 
to  take  charge  of  the  scouts.  Mr.  James  Dailey,  a  civilian  vol 
unteer,  was  also  with  the  command.  The  pack  train  carried 
along  rations  for  thirty  days,  and  there  was  no  lack  of  flour, 
bacon,  beans,  coffee,  with  a  little  chile  Colorado  for  the  packers, 
and  a  small  quantity  of  dried  peaches  and  chocolate,  of  which 
many  persons  in  that  country  made  use  in  preference  to  coffee. 
We  were  all  cut  down  to  the  lowest  notch  in  the  matter  of  cloth 
ing,  a  deprivation  of  which  no  one  complained,  since  the  loss  was 
not  severely  felt  amid  such  surroundings. 

It  was  now  that  the  great  amount  of  information  which  General 
Crook  had  personally  absorbed  in  regard  to  Arizona  came  of  the 
best  service.  He  had  been  in  constant  conference  with  the 
Apache  scouts  and  interpreters  concerning  all  that  was  to  be 
done  and  all  that  was  positively  known  of  the  whereabouts  of  the 
hostiles ;  especially  did  he  desire  to  find  the  "rancheria"  of  the 
chief  "Chuntz,"  who  had  recently  murdered  in  cold  blood,  at 
Camp  Grant,  a  Mexican  boy  too  young  to  have  been  a  cause  of 
rancor  to  any  one.  It  may  be  said  in  one  word  that  the  smallest 
details  of  this  expedition  were  arranged  by  General  Crook  in 
person  before  we  started  down  the  San  Pedro.  He  had  learned 
from  "  Esquinosquizn "  of  the  site  of  the  rancheria  supposed  to 
be  occupied  by  ' ' Deltchay "  in  the  lofty  range  called  the  "Four 
Peaks"  or  the  "  Matitzal,"  the  latter  by  the  Indians  and  the  for 
mer  by  the  Americans,  on  account  of  there  being  the  distinctive 
feature  of  four  peaks  of  great  elevation  overlooking  the  country 
for  hundreds  of  miles  in  all  directions.  One  of  the  most  impor 
tant  duties  confided  to  our  force  was  the  destruction  of  this 
rancheria  if  we  could  find  it.  These  points  were  not  generally 
known  at  the  time  we  left  Grant,  neither  was  it  known  that  one 
of  our  Apache  guides,  "Nantaje, "  christened  "Joe"  by  the 
soldiers,  had  been  raised  in  that  very  stronghold,  and  deputed  to 
conduct  us  to  it.  First,  we  were  to  look  up  "Chuntz,"  if  we 
could,  and  wipe  him  out,  and  then  do  our  best  to  clean  up  the 
stronghold  of  "Deltchay." 


TRYING  SCOUTING.  185 

I  will  avoid  details  of  this  march  because  it  followed  quite 
closely  the  line  of  the  first  and  second  scouts  made  by  Lieutenant 
Gushing,  the  preceding  year,  which  have  been  already  outlined. 
We  followed  down  the  dusty  bottom  of  the  San  Pedro,  through 
a  jungle  of  mesquite  and  sage  brush,  which  always  seem  to  grow 
on  land  which  with  irrigation  will  yield  bountifully  of  wheat, 
and  crossed  over  to  the  feeble  streamlet  marked  on  the  maps  as 
Deer  Creek.  We  crossed  the  Gila  at  a  point  where  the  Mescal 
and  Final  ranges  seemed  to  come  together,  but  the  country  was 
so  broken  that  it  was  hard  to  tell  to  which  range  the  hills  belonged. 
The  trails  were  rough,  and  the  rocks  were  largely  granites, 
porphyry,  and  pudding  stones,  often  of  rare  beauty.  There  was 
an  abundance  of  mescal,  cholla  cactus,  manzanifca,  Spanish  bayo 
net,  pitahaya,  and  scrub  oak  so  long  as  we  remained  in  the  foot 
hills,  but  upon  gaining  the  higher  levels  of  the  Final  range,  we 
found  first  juniper,  and  then  pine  of  good  dimensions  and  in 
great  quantity.  The  scenery  upon  the  summit  of  the  Final  was 
exhilarating  and  picturesque,  but  the  winds  were  bitter  and  the 
ground  deep  with  snow,  so  that  we  made  no  complaint  when  the 
line  of  march  led  us  to  a  camp  on  the  northwest  extremity,  where 
we  found  water  trickling  down  the  flanks  of  the  range  into  a 
beautiful  narrow  cafion,  whose  steep  walls  hid  us  from  the  prying 
gaze  of  the  enemy's  spies,  and  also  protected  from  the  wind  ;  the 
slopes  were  green  with  juicy  grama  grass,  and  dotted  with  oaks 
which  gracefully  arranged  themselves  in  clusters  of  twos  and 
threes,  giving  grateful  shade  to  men  and  animals.  Far  above  us 
waved  the  branches  of  tall  pines  and  cedars,  and  at  their  feet 
could  be  seen  the  banks  of  snow,  but  in  our  own  position  the 
weather  was  rather  that  of  the  south  temperate  or  the  northern 
part  of  the  torrid  zone. 

This  rapid  change  of  climate  made  scouting  in  Arizona  very 
trying.  During  this  campaign  we  were  often  obliged  to  leave 
the  warm  valleys  in  the  morning  and  climb  to  the  higher  altitudes 
and  go  into  bivouac  upon  summits  where  the  sn6w  was  hip  deep, 
as  on  the  Matitzal,  the  Mogollon  plateau,  and  the  Sierra  Ancha. 
To  add  to  the  discomfort,  the  pine  was  so  thoroughly  soaked 
through  with  snow  and  rain  that  it  would  not  burn,  and  unless 
cedar  could  be  found,  the  command  was  in  bad  luck.  Our 
Apache  scouts,  under  Macintosh,  Felmer,  and  Besias,  were  kept 
from  twelve  to  twenty-four  hours  in  advance  of  the  main  body, 


186  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK 

but  always  in  communication,  the  intention  being  to  make  use  of 
them  to  determine  the  whereabouts  of  the  hostiles,  but  to  let  the 
soldiers  do  the  work  of  cleaning  them  out.  It  was  difficult  to 
restrain  the  scouts,  who  were  too  fond  of  war  to  let  slip  any  good 
excuse  for  a  fight,  and  consequently  Macintosh  had  two  or  three 
skirmishes  of  no  great  consequence,  but  which  showed  that  his 
scouts  could  be  depended  upon  both  as  trailers  and  as  a  fighting 
force.  In  one  of  these,  the  village  or  "rancheria"  of  "  Chuntz," 
consisting  of  twelve  "  jacales,"  was  destroyed  with  a  very  full 
winter  stock  of  food,  but  only  one  of  the  party  was  wounded,  and 
all  escaped,  going  in  the  direction  of  the  Oaflon  of  the  Eio  Salado 
or  Salt  Eiver.  The  advance  of  the  scouts  had  been  discovered 
by  a  squaw,  who  gave  the  alarm  and  enabled  the  whole  party  to 
escape*. 

A  day  or  two  after  this,  the  scouts  again  struck  the  trail 
of  the  enemy,  and  had  a  sharp  brush  with  them,  killing  several 
and  capturing  three.  The  Apaches  had  been  making  ready  to 
plant  during  the  coming  spring,  had  dug  irrigating  ditches,  and 
had  also  accumulated  a  great  store  of  all  kinds  of  provisions 
suited  to  their  needs,  among  others  a  full  supply  of  baked  mescal, 
as  well  as  of  the  various  seeds  of  grass,  sunflower,  and  the  beans 
of  mesquite  which  form  so  important  a  part  of  their  food.  As 
well  as  could  be  determined,  this  was  on  or  near  the  head  of  the 
little  stream  marked  on  the  maps  as  Raccoon  Creek,  on  the  south 
slope  of  the  Sierra  Ancha.  Close  by  was  a  prehistoric  ruin,  whose 
wall  of  rubble  stone  was  still  three  feet  high.  On  the  other 
(Ae  south)  side  of  the  Salt  River  we  passed  under  a  well-preserved 
cliff-dwelling  in  the  canon  of  Pinto  Creek,  a  place  which  I  have 
since  examined  carefully,  digging  out  sandals  of  the  "palmilla" 
fibre,  dried  mescal,  corn  husks  and  other  foods,  and  some  small 
pieces  of  textile  fabrics,  with  one  or  two  axes  and  hammers  of 
stone,  arrows,  and  the  usual  debris  to  be  expected  in  such  cases. 
We  worked  our  way  over  into  the  edge  of  the  Superstition 
Mountains.  There  was  very  little  to  do,  and  it  was  evident  that 
whether  through  fear  of  our  own  and  the  other  commands  which 
must  have  been  seen,  or  from  a  desire  to  concentrate  during  the 
cold  weather,  the  Apaches  had  nearly  all  abandoned  that  section 
of  country,  and  sought  refuge  somewhere  else. 

The  Apache  scouts,  however,  insisted  that  we  were  to  find  a 
"  heap  "  of  Indians  "  poco  tiempo  "  (very  soon).     By  their  advice, 


CROOK'S  ADMIRABLE  PACK-TRAINS.  187 

most  of  our  officers  and  men  had  provided  themselves  with  moc 
casins  which  would  make  no  noise  in  clambering  over  the  rocks 
or  down  the  slippery  trails  where  rolling  stones  might  arouse  the 
sleeping  enemy.  The  Apaches,  I  noticed,  stuffed  their  mocca 
sins  with  dry  hay,  and  it  was  also  apparent  that  they  knew  all  the 
minute  points  about  making  themselves  comfortable  with  small 
means.  Just  as  soon  as  they  reached  camp,  those  who  were  not 
posted  as  pickets  or  detailed  to  go  off  on  side  scouts  in  small 
parties  of  five  and  six,  would  devote  their  attention  to  getting 
their  bed  ready  for  the  night ;  the  grass  in  the  vicinity  would  be 
plucked  in  handfuls,  and  spread  out  over  the  smoothed  surface 
upon  which  two  or  three  of  the  scouts  purposed  sleeping  together  ; 
a  semicircle  of  good-sized  pieces  of  rock  made  a  wind  break,  and 
then  one  or  two  blankets  would  be  spread  out,  and  upon  that  the 
three  would  recline,  huddling  close  together,  each  wrapped  up 
in  his  own  blanket.  Whenever  fires  were  allowed,  the  Apaches 
would  kindle  small  ones,  and  lie  down  close  to  them  with  feet 
towards  the  flame.  According  to  the  theory  of  the  Indian,  the 
white  man  makes  so  great  a  conflagration  that,  besides  alarming 
the  whole  country,  he  makes  it  so  hot  that  no  one  can  draw  near, 
whereas  the  Apache,  with  better  sense,  contents  himself  with  a 
small  collection  of  embers,  over  which  he  can  if  necessary  crouch 
and  keep  warm. 

The  fine  condition  of  our  pack-trains  awakened  continued 
interest,  and  evoked  constant  praise  ;  the  mules  had  followed  us 
over  some  of  the  worst  trails  in  Arizona,  and  were  still  as  fresh 
as  when  they  left  Grant,  and  all  in  condition  for  the  most  ardu 
ous  service  with  the  exception  of  two,  one  of  which  ate,  or  was 
supposed  to  have  eaten,  of  the  insect  known  as  the  "Compra 
mucho  "  or  the  "  Nina  de  la  Tierra,"  which  is  extremely  poison 
ous  to  those  animals  which  swallow  it  in  the  grass  to  which  it 
clings.  This  mule  died.  Another  was  bitten  on  the  lip  by  a 
rattlesnake,  and  though  by  the  prompt  application  of  a  poultice 
of  the  weed  called  the  "  golondrina"  we  managed  to  save  its  life 
for  a  few  days,  it  too  died.  On  Christmas  Day  we  were  joined 
by  Captain  James  Burns,  Fifth  Cavalry,  with  Lieutenant  Earl  D. 
Thomas,  of  the  same  regiment,  and  a  command  consisting  of 
forty  enlisted  men  of  Company  G,  and  a  body  of  not  quite  one 
hundred  Pima  Indians.  They  had  been  out  from  MacDowell  for 
six  days,  and  had  crossed  over  the  highest  point  of  the  Matitzal 


188          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

range,  and  had  destroyed  a  "  rancheria,"  killing  six  and  captur 
ing  two  ;  one,  a  squaw,  sent  in  to  MacDowell,  and  the  other,  a 
small  but  very  bright  and  active  boy,  whom  the  men  had  promptly 
adopted,  and  upon  whom  had  been  bestowed  the  name  "  Mike  " 
Burns,  which  he  has  retained  to  this  day.  This  boy,  then  not 
more  than  six  or  seven  years  old,  was  already  an  expert  in  the 
use  of  the  bow  and  arrow,  and,  what  suited  Captain.  Burns  much 
better,  he  could  knock  down  quail  with  stones,  and  add  much  to 
the  pleasures  of  a  very  meagre  mess,  as  no  shooting  was  allowed. 
During  the  past  twenty  years,  Mike  Burns  has,  through  the 
interposition  of  General  Crook,  been  sent  to  Carlisle,  and  there 
received  the  rudiments  of  an  education ;  we  have  met  at  the  San 
Carlos  Agency,  and  talked  over  old  times,  and  I  have  learned 
what  was  not  then  known,  that  in  Burns's  fight  with  the  band  on 
the  summit  of  the  Four  Peaks,  seven  of  the  latter  were  killed, 
and  the  men  and  women  who  escaped,  under  the  leadership  of 
Mike's  own  father,  hurried  to  the  stronghold  in  the  caflon  of  the 
Salt  Kiver,  where  they  were  all  killed  by  our  command  a  few  days 
later.  On  the  evening  of  the  27th  of  December,  1872,  we  were 
bivouacked  in  a  narrow  canon  called  the  Cottonwood  Creek, 
flowing  into  the  Salado  at  the  eastern  base  of  the  Matitzal,  when 
Major  Brown  announced  to  his  officers  that  the  object  for  which 
General  Crook  had  sent  out  this  particular  detachment  was  almost 
attained ;  that  he  had  been  in  conference  with  "Nantaje,"  one 
of  our  Apache  scouts,  who  had  been  brought  up  in  the  cave  in 
the  caflon  of  the  Salt  River,  and  that  he  had  expressed  a  desire 
to  lead  us  there,  provided  we  made  up  our  minds  to  make  the 
journey  before  day-dawn,  as  the  position  of  the  enemy  was  such 
that  if  we  should  be  discovered  on  the  trail,  not  one  of  our  party 
would  return  alive.  The  Apaches  are  familiar  with  the  stars, 
and  "Nantaje  "  had  said  that  if  we  were  to  go,  he  wanted  to  start 
out  with  the  first  appearance  above  the  eastern  horizon  of  a  cer 
tain  star  with  which  he  was  acquainted. 

Brown  gave  orders  that  every  officer  and  man  who  was  not  in 
the  best  condition  for  making  a  severe  march  and  climb  over 
rugged  mountains,  should  stay  with  the  pack-trains  and  be  on 
the  watch  for  any  prowling  band  of  the  enemy.  First,  there  was 
made  a  pile  of  the  aparejos  and  supplies  which  could  serve  in 
emergency  as  a  breastwork  for  those  to  remain  behind ;  then  a 
picket  line  was  stretched,  to  which  the  mules  and  horses  could  be 


ON   THE  TRACK  OF   THE  ENEMY.  189 

tied,  and  kept  under  shelter  from  fire  ;  and  lastly,  every  officer 
and  man  looked  carefully  to  his  weapons  and  ammunition,  for  we 
were  to  start  out  on  foot  and  climb  through  the  rough  promon 
tory  of  the  Matitzal  into  the  Salt  River  Cation,  and  on  to  the 
place  in  which  we  were  to  come  upon  the  cave  inhabited  by 
the  hostiles  of  whom  we  were  in  search.  Every  belt  was  filled 
with  cartridges,  and  twenty  extra  were  laid  away  in  the  blanket 
which  each  wore  slung  across  his  shoulders,  and  in  which  were 
placed  the  meagre  allowance  of  bread,  bacon,  and  coffee  taken  as 
provision,  with  the  canteen  of  water.  The  Apache  scouts  had 
asked  the  privilege  of  cooking  and  eating  the  mule  which  had 
died  during  the  morning,  and  as  the  sky  had  clouded  and  the 
light  of  small  fires  could  not  well  be  seen,  Major  Brown  consented, 
and  they  stuffed  themselves  to  their  hearts'  content,  in  a  meal 
which  had  not  a  few  points  of  resemblance  to  the  "Festins  a 
manger  tout,"  mentioned  by  Father  Lafitau,  Parkman,  and  other 
writers.  Before  eight  o'clock,  we  were  on  our  way,  "Nantaje" 
in  the  van,  and  all  marching  briskly  towards  the  summit  of  the 
high  mesas  which  enclosed  the  canon. 

The  night  became  extremely  cold,  and  we  were  only  too  glad 
of  the  opportunity  of  pushing  ahead  with  vigor,  and  regretted 
very  much  to  hear  the  whispered  command  to  halt  and  lie  down 
until  the  last  of  the  rear-guard  could  be  heard  from.  The 
Apache  scouts  in  front  had  detected  lights  in  advance,  and  assured 
Major  Brown  that  they  must  be  from  the  fires  of  the  Indians  of 
whom  we  were  in  quest.  While  they  went  ahead  to  search  and 
determine  exactly  what  was  the  matter,  the  rest  of  us  were  com 
pelled  to  lie  prone  to  the  ground,  so  as  to  afford  the  least  chance 
to  the  enemy  to  detect  any  signs  of  life  among  us ;  no  one  spoke 
beyond  a  whisper,  and  even  when  the  cold  compelled  any  of  the 
party  to  cough,  it  was  done  with  the  head  wrapped  up  closely  in 
a  blanket  or  cape.  "Nantaje,"  "Bocon,"  and  others  were  occu 
pied  with  the  examination  of  the  track  into  which  the  first-named 
had  stepped,  as  he  and  Brown  were  walking  ahead  ;  it  seemed  to 
the  Indian  to  be  the  footprint  of  a  man,  but  when  all  had  nestled 
down  close  to  the  earth,  covered  heads  over  with  blankets,  and 
struck  a  match,  it  proved  to  be  the  track  of  a  great  bear,  which 
closely  resembles  that  of  a  human  being.  Within  a  few  moments, 
Felmer,  Archie,  and  the  others,  sent  on  to  discover  the  cause  of 
the  fires  seen  ahead,  returned  with  the  intelligence  that  the 


190          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Apaches  had  just  been  raiding  upon  the  white  and  Pima  Indian 
settlements  in  the  valley  of  the  Gila,  and  had  driven  off  fifteen 
horses  and  mules,  which,  being  barefoot  and  sore  from  climbing 
the  rocky  trail  up  the  face  of  the  mountain,  had  been  abandoned 
in  a  little  nook  where  there  was  a  slight  amount  of  grass  and  a 
little  water.  Worst  news  of  all,  there  had  been  four  large 
"  wickyups  "  in  the  same  place  which  had  just  been  vacated,  and 
whether  on  account  of  discovering  our  approach  or  not  it  was 
hard  to  say. 

We  were  becoming  rather  nervous  by  this  time,  as  we  still  had 
in  mind  what  "Nantaje"  had  said  the  previous  evening  about 
killing  the  last  of  the  enemy,  or  being  compelled  to  fight  our  own 
way  back.  "Nantaje"  was  thoroughly  composed,  and  smiled 
when  some  of  the  party  insinuated  a  doubt  about  the  existence  of 
any  large  "  rancheria"  in  the  neighborhood.  "  Wait  and  see," 
was  all  the  reply  he  would  vouchsafe. 

By  advice  of  "  Nantaje,"  Major  Brown  ordered  Lieutenant 
William  J.  Ross  to  proceed  forward  on  the  trail  with  twelve  or 
fifteen  of  the  best  shots  among  the  soldiers,  and  such  of  the 
packers  as  had  obtained  permission  to  accompany  the  command. 
"Nantaje"  led  them  down  the  slippery,  rocky,  dangerous  trail  in 
the  wall  of  the  gloomy  canon,  which  in  the  cold  gray  light  of  the 
slowly  creeping  dawn,  and  under  the  gloom  of  our  surroundings, 
made  us  think  of  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow  of  Death.  "They 
ought  to  be  very  near  here/'  said  Major  Brown.  "  Good  Heavens  ! 
what  is  all  that  ?  "  It  was  a  noise  equal  to  that  of  a  full  battery 
of  six-pounders  going  off  at  once.  Brown  knew  that  something 
of  the  greatest  consequence  had  happened,  and  he  wasn't  the  man 
to  wait  for  the  arrival  of  messengers  ;  he  ordered  me  to  take 
command  of  the  first  forty  men  in  the  advance,  without  waiting 
to  see  whether  they  were  white  or  red,  soldiers  or  packers,  and 
go  down  the  side  of  the  canon  on  the  run.  until  I  had  joined 
Ross,  and, taken  up  a  position  as  close  to  the  enemy  as  it  was  pos 
sible  for  me  to  get  without  bringing  on  a  fight ;  meantime,  he 
would  gather  up  all  the  rest  of  the  command,  and  follow  me  as 
fast  as  he  could,  and  relieve  me.  There  was  no  trouble  at  all  in 
getting  down  that  canon ;  the  difficulty  was  to  hold  on  to  the 
trail ;  had  any  man  lost  his  footing,  he  would  not  have  stopped 
until  he  had  struck  the  current  of  the  Salado,  hundreds  of  feet 
below.  In  spite  of  everything,  we  clambered  down,  and  by  great 


BESIEGING  THE  CAVE.  191 

good  luck  broke  no  necks.  As  we  turned  a  sudden  angle  in  the 
wall,  we  saw  the  condition  of  affairs  most  completely.  The  pre 
cipice  forming  that  side  of  the  canon  was  hundreds  of  feet  in 
height,  but  at  a  point  some  four  or  five  hundred  feet  below  the 
crest  had  fallen  back  in  a  shelf  upon  which  was  a  cave  of  no  great 
depth.  In  front  of  the  cave  great  blocks  of  stone  furnished  a 
natural  rampart  behind  which  the  garrison  could  bid  defiance  to 
the  assaults  of  almost  any  enemy;  in  this  eyrie,  the  band  of 
"  Nanni-chaddi  "  felt  a  security  such  as  only  the  eagle  or  the  vul 
ture  can  feel  in  the  seclusion  of  the  ice-covered  dizzy  pinnacles  of 
the  Andes  ;  from  the  shelf  upon  which  they  lived  these  savages, 
who  seem  to  me  to  have  been  the  last  of  the  cliff-dwellers  within 
our  borders,  had  on  several  occasions  watched  the  commands  of 
Sanford  and  Carr  struggling  to  make  their  way  up  the  stream  in 
the  canon  below.  The  existence  of  one,  or  perhaps  two,  ranch- 
erias  somewhere  within  this  gloomy  canon  had  long  been  sus 
pected,  but  never  demonstrated  until  the  present  moment.  When 
we  joined  Eoss  we  heard  his  story  told  in  few  words :  he  and 
his  small  band  of  twelve  had  followed  Felmer  and  Macintosh 
down  the  face  of  the  cliff  until  they  had  reached  the  small  open 
space  in  front  of  the  cave  ;  there  they  saw  within  a  very  few  yards 
of  them  the  party  of  raiders  just  returned  from  the  Gila  settle 
ments,  who  had  left  at  pasture  the  band  of  fifteen  ponies  which 
we  had  seen.  These  warriors  were  dancing,  either  to  keep  them 
selves  warm  or  as  a  portion  of  some  religious  ceremonial,  as  is 
generally  the  case  with  the  tribes  in  the  southwest.  Close  by 
them  crouched  half  a  dozen  squaws,  aroused  from  slumber  to  pre 
pare  food  for  the  hungry  braves.  The  flames  of  the  fire,  small  as 
it  was,  reflected  back  from  the  high  walls,  gave  a  weird  illumina 
tion  to  the  features  of  the  circle,  and  enabled  the  whites  to  take 
better  aim  upon  their  unsuspecting  victims.  Boss  and  "  Nantaje  " 
consulted  in  whispers,  and  immediately  it  was  decided  that  each 
man  should  with  the  least  noise  possible  cock  his  piece  and  aim  at 
one  of  the  group  without  reference  to  what  his  next-door  neighbor 
might  be  doing.  Had  not  the  Apaches  been  interested  in  their 
own  singing,  they  might  surely  have  heard  the  low  whisper:  ready ! 
aim  !  fire  !  but  it  would  have  been  too  late  ;  the  die  was  cast,  and 
their  hour  had  come. 

The  fearful  noise  which  we  had  heard,  reverberating  from  peak 
to  peak  and  from  crag  to  crag,  was  the  volley  poured  in  by  lioss 


192          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

and  his  comrades,  which  had  sent  six  souls  to  their  last  account, 
and  sounded  the  death-knell  of  a  powerful  band.  The  surprise 
and  terror  of  the  savages  were  so  complete  that  they  thought  only 
of  the  safety  which  the  interior  of  the  cave  afforded,  and  as  a  con 
sequence,  when  my  party  arrived  on  the  scene,  although  there  were 
a,  number  of  arrows  thrown  at  us  as  we  descended  the  path  and 
rounded  the  angle,  yet  no  attempt  was  made  at  a  counter-assault, 
and  before  the  Apaches  could  recover  from  their  astonishment 
the  two  parties  united,  numbering  more  than  fifty,  nearer  sixty, 
men,  had  secured  position  within  thirty  yards  of  one  flank  of  the 
cave,  and  within  forty  yards  of  the  other,  and  each  man  posted 
behind  rocks  in  such  a  manner  that  he  might  just  as  well  be  in 
a  rifle  pit.  My  instructions  were  not  to  make  any  fight,  but  to 
keep  the  Apaches  occupied,  in  case  they  tried  to  break  out  of  the 
trap,  and  to  order  all  men  to  shelter  themselves  to  the  utmost. 
Major  Brown  was  down  with  the  remainder  of  the  command 
almost  before  a  shot  could  be  exchanged  with  the  enemy,  although 
there  were  two  more  killed  either  a  moment  before  his  arrival  or 
very  soon  after.  One  of  these  was  a  Pima,  one  of  our  own  allies, 
who  persisted  in  disregarding  orders,  and  exposed  himself  to  the 
enemy's  fire,  and  was  shot  through  the  body  and  died  before  he 
ever  knew  what  had  struck  him.  The  other  was  one  of  the 
Apaches  who  had  sneaked  down  along  our  right  flank,  and  was 
making  his  way  out  to  try  to  open  up  communication  with  another 
village  and  get  its  people  to  attack  us  in  rear.  He  counted 
without  his  host,  and  died  a  victim  to  his  own  carelessness  ;  he 
had  climbed  to  the  top  of  a  high  rock  some  distance  down  the 
cation,  and  there  fancied  himself  safe  from  our  shots,  and  turned 
to  give  a  yell  of  defiance.  His  figure  outlined  against  the  sky 
was  an  excellent  mark,  and  there  was  an  excellent  shot  among 
us  to  take  full  advantage  of  it.  Blacksmith  John  Cahill  had  his 
rifle  in  position  like  a  flash,  and  shot  the  Indian  through  the 
body.  At  the  time  of  the  fight,  we  did  not  know  that  the  savage 
had  been  killed,  although  Cahill  insisted  that  he  had  shot  him 
as  described,  and  as  those  nearest  him  believed.  The  corpse  could 
not  be  found  in  the  rocks  before  we  left,  and  therefore  was  not 
counted,  but  the  squaws  at  San  Carlos  have  long  since  told  me 
that  their  relative  was  killed  there,  and  that  his  remains  were 
found  after  we  had  left  the  neighborhood. 

Brown's  first  work  was  to  see  that  the  whole  line  was  impreg- 


SHARP    NOSE. 


FIGHTING  TO  THE  DEATH.  193 

nable  to  assault  from  the  beleaguered  garrison  of  the  cave,  and  then 
he  directed  his  interpreters  to  summon  all  to  an  unconditional 
surrender.  The  only  answer  was  a  shriek  of  hatred  and  defiance, 
threats  of  what  we  had  to  expect,  yells  of  exultation  at  the 
thought  that  not  one  of  us  should  ever  see  the  light  of  another 
day,  but  should  furnish  a  banquet  for  the  crows  and  buzzards, 
and  some  scattering  shots  fired  in  pure  bravado.  Brown  again  sum 
moned  all  to  surrender,  and  when  jeers  were  once  more  his  sole  re 
sponse,  he  called  upon  the  Apaches  to  allow  their  women  and  chil 
dren  to  come  out,  and  assured  them  kind  treatment.  To  this  the 
answer  was  the  same  as  before,  the  jeers  and  taunts  of  the  garri 
son  assuring  our  people  that  they  were  in  dead  earnest  in  saying 
that  they  intended  to  fight  till  they  died.  For  some  moments 
the  Apaches  resorted  to  the  old  tactics  of  enticing  some  of  our 
unwary  soldiers  to  expose  themselves  above  the  wall  of  rocks 
behind  which  Major  Brown  ordered  all  to  crouch  ;  a  hat  or  a  war 
bonnet  would  be  set  up  on  the  end  of  a  bow,  and  held  in  such  a 
way  as  to  make-believe  that  there  was  a  warrior  behind  it,  and 
induce  some  one  proud  of  his  marksmanship  to  "  lay  "  for  the  red 
man  and  brother,  who  would,  in  his  turn,  be  "  laying "  for  the 
white  man  in  some  coign  of  vantage  close  to  where  his  squaw 
was  holding  the  head-gear.  But  such  tricks  were  entirely  too 
transparent  to  deceive  many,  and  after  a  short  time  the  Apaches 
themselves  grew  tired  of  them,  and  began  to  try  new  methods. 
They  seemed  to  be  abundantly  provided  with  arrows  and  lances, 
and  of  the  former  they  made  no  saving,  but  would  send  them 
flying  high  in  air  in  the  hope  that  upon  coming  back  to  earth 
they  might  hit  those  of  our  rearguard  who  were  not  taking  such 
good  care  of  themselves  as  were  their  brothers  at  the  front  on  the 
skirmish  line. 

There  was  a  lull  of  a  few  minutes ;  each  side  was  measuring 
its  own  strength  and  that  of  its  opponent.  It  was  apparent 
that  any  attempt  to  escalade  without  ladders  would  result  in 
the  loss  of  more  than  half  our  command  ;  the  great  rock  wall 
in  front  of  the  cave  was  not  an  inch  less  than  ten  feet  in  height 
at  its  lowest  point,  and  smooth  as  the  palm  of  the  hand  ;  it 
would  be  madness  to  attempt  to  climb  it,  because  the  moment 
the  assailants  reached  the  top,  the  lances  of  the  invested  force 
could  push  them  back  to  the  ground  wounded  to  death.  Three 
or  four  of  our  picked  shots  were  posted  in  eligible  positions  over- 
13 


194         ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

looking  the  places  where  the  Apaches  had  been  seen  to  expose 
themselves  ;  this,  in  the  hope  that  any  recurrence  of  such  fool- 
hardiness  would  afford  an  opportunity  for  the  sharpshooters  to 
show  their  skill.  Of  the  main  body,  one-half  was  in  reserve  fifty 
yards  behind  the  skirmish  line — to  call  it  such  where  the  whole 
business  was  a  skirmish  line — with  carbines  loaded  and  cocked, 
and  a  handful  of  cartridges  on  the  clean  rocks  in  front,  and  every 
man  on  the  lookout  to  prevent  the  escape  of  a  single  warrior, 
should  any  be  fortunate  enough  to  sneak  or  break  through  the 
first  line.  The  men  on  the  first  line  had  orders  to  fire  as  rapidly 
as  they  chose,  directing  aim  against  the  roof  of  the  cave,  with  the 
view  to  having  the  bullets  glance  down  among  the  Apache  men, 
who  had  massed  immediately  back  of  the  rock  rampart. 

This  plan  worked  admirably,  and,  so  far  as  we  could  judge,  our 
shots  were  telling  upon  the  Apaches,  and  irritating  them  to  that 
degree  that  they  no  longer  sought  shelter,  but  boldly  faced  our 
fire  and  returned  it  with  energy,  the  weapons  of  the  men  being 
reloaded  by  the  women,  who  shared  their  dangers.  A  wail  from 
a  squaw,  and  the  feeble  cry  of  a  little  babe,  were  proof  that  the 
missiles  of  death  were  not  seeking  men  alone.  Brown  ordered 
our  fire  to  cease,  and  for  the  last  time  summoned  the  Apaches  to 
surrender,  or  to  let  their  women  and  children  come  out  unmo 
lested.  On  their  side,  the  Apaches  also  ceased  all  hostile  demon 
stration,  and  it  seemed  to  some  of  us  Americans  that  they  must 
be  making  ready  to  yield,  and  were  discussing  the  matter  among 
themselves.  Our  Indian  guides  and  interpreters  raised  the  cry, 
"Look  out!  There  goes  the  death  song;  they  are  going  to 
charge  ! "  It  was  a  weird  chant,  one  not  at  all  easy  to  describe; 
half  wail  and  half  exultation — the  frenzy  of  despair  and  the  wild 
cry  for  revenge.  Now  the  petulant,  querulous  treble  of  the 
squaws  kept  time  with  the  shuffling  feet,  and  again  the  rdeeper 
growl  of  the  savage  bull-dogs,  who  represented  manhood  in 
that  cave,  was  flung  back  from  the  cold  pitiless  brown  of  the 
cliffs. 

"  Look  out !  Here  they  come  !  "  Over  the  rampart,  guided  by 
one  impulse,  moving  as  if  they  were  all  part  of  the  one  body, 
jumped  and  ran  twenty  of  the  warriors — superb-looking  fellows 
all  of  them  ;  each  carried  upon  his  back  a  quiver  filled  with  the 
long  reed  arrows  of  the  tribe,  each  held  in  his  hand  a  bow  and  a 
rifle,  the  latter  at  full  cock.  Half  of  the  party  stood  upon  the 


THE  CHARGE  FROM  THE  CAVE.          195 

rampart,  which  gave  them  some  chance  to  sight  our  men  behind 
the  smaller  rocks  in  front,  and  blazed  away  for  all  they  were 
worth — they  were  trying  to  make  a  demonstration  to  engage  our 
attention,  while  the  other  part  suddenly  slipped  down  and  around 
our  right  flank,  and  out  through  the  rocks  which  had  so  effect 
ively  sheltered  the  retreat  of  the  one  who  had  so  nearly  succeeded 
in  getting  away  earlier  in  the  morning.  Their  motives  were 
divined,  and  the  move  was  frustrated ;  our  men  rushed  to  the 
attack  like  furies,  each  seeming  to  be  anxious  to  engage  the 
enemy  at  close  quarters.  Six  or  seven  of  the  enemy  were  killed 
in  a  space  not  twenty-five  feet  square,  and  the  rest  driven  back 
within  the  cave,  more  or  less  wounded. 

Although  there  was  a  fearful  din  from  the  yells,  groans,  wails  of 
the  squaws  within  the  fortress,  and  the  re-echoing  of  volleys  from 
the  walls  of  the  caflon,  our  command  behaved  admirably,  and 
obeyed  its  orders  to  the  letter.  The  second  line  never  budged 
from  its  place,  and  well  it  was  that  it  had  stayed  just  there.  One 
of  the  charging  party,  seeing  that  so  much  attention  was  converged 
upon  our  right,  had  slipped  down  unnoticed  from  the  rampart,  and 
made  his  way  to  the  space  between  our  two  lines,  and  had  sprung  to 
the  top  of  a  huge  boulder,  and  there  had  begun  his  war-whoop,  as 
a  token  of  encouragement  to  those  still  behind.  I  imagine  that  he 
was  not  aware  of  our  second  line,  and  thought  that  once  in  our 
rear,  ensconced  in  a  convenient  nook  in  the  rocks,  he  could  keep 
us  busy  by  picking  us  off  at  his  leisure.  His  chant  was  never 
finished  ;  it  was  at  once  his  song  of  glory  and  his  death  song ;  he 
had  broken  through  our  line  of  fire  only  to  meet  a  far  more  cruel 
death.  Twenty  carbines  were  gleaming  in  the  sunlight  just 
flushing  the  cliffs  ;  forty  eyes  were  sighting  along  the  barrels. 
The  Apache  looked  into  the  eyes  of  his  enemies,  and  in  not  one 
did  he.  see  the  slightest  sign  of  mercy  ;  he  tried  to  say  something ; 
what  it  was  we  never  could  tell.  "No!  ~No  !  soldados  !"  in 
broken  Spanish,  was  all  we  could  make  out  before  the  resounding 
volley  had  released  another  soul  from  its  earthly  casket,  and  let 
the  bleeding  corpse  fall  to  the  ground  as  limp  as  a  wet  moccasin. 
He  was  really  a  handsome  warrior ;  tall,  well-proportioned, 
finely  muscled,  and  with  a  bold,  manly  countenance  ;  (f  shot  to 
death  "  was  the  verdict  of  all  who  paused  to  look  upon  him,  but 
that  didn't  half  express  the  state  of  the  case  ;  I  have  never  seen 
a  man  more  thoroughly  shot  to  pieces  than  was  this  one  ;  every 


198          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

no  eye  could  pierce  it,  bat  over  on  our  left  it  seemed  that  for  some 
reason  we  could  still  discern  several  figures  guarding  that  extrem 
ity  of  the  enemy's  line — the  old  "  Medicine  Man,"  who,  decked 
in  all  the  panoply  of  his  office,  with  feathers  on  head,  decorated 
shirt  on  back,  and  all  the  sacred  insignia  known  to  his  people, 
had  defied  the  approach  of  death,  and  kept  his  place,  firing  coolly 
at  everything  that  moved  on  our  side  that  he  could  see,  his  rifle 
reloaded  and  handed  back  by  his  assistants — either  squaws  or 
young  men — it  was  impossible  to  tell  which,  as  only  the  arms 
could  be  noted  in  the  air.  Major  Brown  signalled  up  to  Burns 
to  stop  pouring  down  his  boulders,  and  at  the  same  time  our  men 
were  directed  to  cease  firing,  and  to  make  ready  to  charge  ;  the 
fire  of  the  Apaches  had  ceased,  and  their  chant  of  defiance  was 
hushed.  There  was  a  feeling  in  the  command  as  if  we  were 
about  to  rush  through  the  gates  of  a  cemetery,  and  that  we 
should  find  a  ghastly  spectacle  within,  but,  at  the  same  time,  it 
might  be  that  the  Apaches  had  retreated  to  some  recesses  in  the 
innermost  depths  of  the  cavern,  unknown  to  us,  and  be  prepared  to 
assail  all  who  ventured  to  cross  the  wall  in  front. 

Precisely  at  noon  we  advanced,  Corporal  Hanlon,  of  Company 
G,  Fifth  Cavalry,  being  the  first  man  to  surmount  the  para 
pet.  I  hope  that  my  readers  will  be  satisfied  with  the  meagrest 
description  of  the  awful  sight  that  met  our  eyes  :  there  were  men 
and  women  dead  or  writhing  in  the  agonies  of  death,  and  with 
them  several  babies,  killed  by  our  glancing  bullets,  or  by  tHe 
storm  of  rocks  and  stones  that  had  descended  from  above.  While 
one  portion  of  the  command  worked  at  extricating  the  bodies  from 
beneath  the  pile  of  debris,  another  stood  guard  with  cocked 
revolvers  or  carbines,  ready  to  blow  out  the  brains  of  the  firsjb 
wounded  savage  who  might  in  his  desperation  attempt  to  kill  one 
of  our  people.  But  this  precaution  was  entirely  useless.  All 
idea  of  resistance  had  been  completely  knocked  out  of  the  heads 
of  the  survivors,  of  whom,  to  our  astonishment,  there  were  over 
thirty. 

How  any  of  the  garrison  had  ever  escaped  such  a  storm  of  mis 
siles  was  at  first  a  mystery  to  us,  as  the  cave  was  scarcely  a  cave 
at  all,  but  rather  a  cliff  dwelling,  and  of  no  extended  depth. 
However,  there  were  many  large  slabs  of  flat  thin  stone  within 
the  enclosure,  either  left  there  by  Nature  or  carried  in  by  the 
squaws,  to  be  employed  in  various  domestic  purposes.  Behind 


THE   SIGHT   WITHIN  THE  CAVE.  199 

and  under  these  many  of  the  squaws  had  crept,  and  others  had  piled 
up  the  dead  to  screen  themselves  and  their  children  from  the  fury 
of  our  assault.  Thirty-five,  if  I  remember  aright,  were  still  living, 
but  in  the  number  are  included  all  who  were  still  breathing ;  many 
were  already  dying,  and  nearly  one-half  were  dead  before  we  started 
out  of  that  dreadful  place.  None  of  the  warriors  were  conscious 
except  one  old  man,  who  serenely  awaited  the  last  summons  ;  he 
had  received  five  or  six  wounds,  and  was  practically  dead  when 
we  sprang  over  the  entrance  wall.  There  was  a  general  sentiment 
of  sorrow  for  the  old  " Medicine  Man"  who  had  stood  up  so 
fiercely  on  the  left  of  the  Apache  line ;  we  found  his  still  warm 
corpse,  crushed  out  of  all  semblance  to  humanity,  beneath  a  huge 
mass  of  rock,  which  had  also  extinguished  at  one  fell  stroke  the 
light  of  the  life  of  the  squaw  and  the  young  man  who  had  remained 
by  his  side.  The  amount  of  plunder  and  supplies  of  all  kinds 
was  extremely  great,  and  the  band  inhabiting  these  cliffs  must 
have  lived  with  some  comfort.  There  was  a  great  amount  of 
food — roasted  mescal,  seeds  of  all  kinds,  jerked  mule  or  pony 
meat,  and  all  else  that  these  savages  were  wont  to  store  for  the 
winter ;  bows  and  arrows  in  any  quantity,  lances,  war  clubs,  guns  of 
various  kinds,  with  ammunition  fixed  and  loose ;  a  perfect  strong 
hold  well  supplied.  So  much  of  the  mescal  and  other  food  as 
our  scouts  wished  to  pack  off  on  their  own  backs  was  allowed 
them,  and  everything  else  was  given  to  the  flames.  No  attempt 
wfts  made  to  bury  the  dead,  who,  with  the  exception  of  our  own 
Pi  ma,  were  left  where  they  fell. 

Brown  was  anxious  to  get  back  out  of  the  canon,  as  the  captive 
squaws  told  him  that  there  was  another  "  rancheria "  in  the 
Superstition  Mountains  on  the  south  side  of  the  canon,  and  it  was 
probable  that  the  Indians  belonging  to  it  would  come  up  just  as 
soon  as  they  heard  the  news  of  the  fight,  and  attack  our  column 
in  rear  as  it  tried  to  make  its  way  back  to  the  top  of  the  precipice. 
The  men  who  were  found  dancing  by  Ross  had,  just  that  moment, 
returned  from  a  raid  upon  the  Pima  villages  and  the  outskirts  of 
Florence,  in  the  Gila  valley,  where  they  had  been  successful  in 
getting  the  ponies  we  recovered,  as  well  as  in  killing  some  of  the 
whites  and  friendly  Indians  living  there.  We  had  not  wiped  out 
all  the  band  belonging  to  the  cave  ;  there  were  six  or  seven  of  the 
young  women  who  had  escaped  and  made  their  way  down  to  the 
foot  of  the  precipice,  and  on  into  the  current  of  the  Salad o  ;  they 


200          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

would  be  sure  to  push  on  to  the  other  "  rancheria,"  of  which  we 
had  been  told.  How  they  came  to  escape  was  this  :  at  the  very 
first  streak  of  light,  or  perhaps  a  short  time  before,  they  had  been 
sent — six  young  girls  and  an  old  woman — to  examine  a  great 
"  mescal  pit "  down  in  the  cafion,  and  determine  whether  the  food 
was  yet  ready  for  use.  The  Apaches  always  preferred  to  let  their 
mescal  cook  for  three  days,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  would  pull 
out  a  plug  made  of  the  stalk  of  the  plant,  which  should  always  be 
put  into  the  "  pit "  or  oven,  and  if  the  end  of  that  plug  is  cooked, 
the  whole  mass  is  cooked.  We  had  smelt  the  savory  odors  arising 
from  the  "pit "  as  we  climbed  down  the  face  of  the  cliff,  early  in 
the  day.  John  de  Laet  describes  a  mescal  heap,  or  a  furnace  of 
earth  covered  with  hot  rocks,  upon  which  the  Chichimecs  (the 
name  by  which  the  Spaniards  in  early  times  designated  all  the 
wild  tribes  in  the  northern  part  of  their  dominions  in  North 
America)  placed  their  corn-paste  or  venison,  then  other  hot 
rocks,  and  finally  earth  again.  This  mode  of  cooking,  he  says, 
was  imitated  by  the  Spaniards  in  New  Mexico.  (Lib.  7,  cap.  3.) 
The  Apache-Mojave  squaws  at  the  San  Carlos  Agency  still  period 
ically  mourn  for  the  death  of  seventy-six  of  their  people  in  this 
cave,  and  when  I  was  last  among  them,  they  told  a  strange  story 
of  how  one  man  escaped  from  our  scrutiny,  after  we  had  gained 
possession  of  the  stronghold. 

He  had  been  badly  wounded  by  a  bullet  in  the  calf  of  the  left 
leg,  in  the  very  beginning  of  the  fight,  and  had  lain  down  behind 
one  of  the  great  slabs  of  stone  which  were  resting  against  the  walls  ; 
as  the  fight  grew  hotter  and  hotter,  other  wounded  Indians  sought 
shelter  close  to  the  same  spot,  and  after  a  while  the  corpses  of  the 
slain  were  piled  up  there  as  a  sort  of  a  breastwork.  When  we 
removed  the  dead,  it  never  occurred  to  any  of  us  to  look  behind  the 
stone  slabs,  and  to  this  fact  the  Indian  owed  his  salvation.  He 
could  hear  the  scouts  talking,  and  he  knew  that  we  were  going  to 
make  a  rapid  march  to  reunite  with  our  pack-train  and  with  other 
scouting  parties.  He  waited  until  after  we  had  started  out  on 
the  trail,  and  then  made  for  himself  a  support  for  his  injured 
limb  out  of  a  broken  lance-staff,  and  a  pair  of  crutches  out  of  two 
others.  He  crawled  or  climbed  up  the  wall  of  the  caflon,  and 
then  made  his  way  along  the  trail  to  the  Tonto  Creek,  to  meet 
and  to  turn  back  a  large  band  of  his  tribe  who  were  coming  down 
to  join  "  Nanni-chaddi."  He  saved  them  from  Major  Brown, 


LEAVING  THE  CANON.  201 

but  it  was  a  case  of  jumping  out  of  the  frying-pan  into  the  fire. 
They  took  refuge  on  the  summit  of  "  Turret  Butte,"  a  place 
deemed  second  only  to  the  Salt  River  cave  in  impregnability,  and 
supposed  to  be  endowed  with  peculiar  "medicine"  qualities, 
which  would  prevent  an  enemy  from  gaining  possession  of  it. 
But  here  they  were  surprised  by  the  command  of  Major  George 
M.  Randall,  Twenty-third  Infantry,  and  completely  wiped  out, 
as  will  be  told  on  another  page. 

We  got  away  from  the  canon  with  eighteen  captives,  women 
and  children,  some  of  them  badly  wounded  ;  we  might  have  saved 
a  larger  percentage  of  the  whole  number  found,  living  in  the 
cave  at  the  moment  of  assault,  but  we  were  not  provided  with 
medical  supplies,  bandages,  or  anything  for  the  care  of  the  sick 
and  wounded.  This  one  item  will  show  how  thoroughly  out  of 
the  world  the  Department  of  Arizona  was  at  that  time ;  it  was 
difficult  to  get  medical  officers  out  there,  and  the  resulting  con 
dition  of  affairs  was  such  an  injustice  to  both  officers  and  men 
that  General  Crook  left  no  stone  unturned  until  he  had  rectified 
it.  The  captives  were  seated  upon  the  Pima  ponies  left  back 
upon  the  top  of  the  mountain  ;  these  animals  were  almost  played 
out ;  their  feet  had  been  knocked  to  pieces  coming  up  the  rocky 
pathway,  during  the  darkness  of  night ;  and  the  cholla  cactus  still 
sticking  in  their  legs,  showed  that  they  had  been  driven  with 
such  speed,  and  in  such  darkness,  that  they  had  been  unable  to 
pick  their  way.  But  they  were  better  than  nothing,  and  were 
kept  in  use  for  the  rest  of  that  day.  Runners  were  despatched 
across  the  hills  to  the  pack-train,  and  were  told  to  conduct  it  to 
a  small  spring,  well  known  to  our  guides,  high  up  on  the  nose  of 
the  Matitzal,  where  we  were  all  to  unite  and  go  into  camp. 

It  was  a  rest  and  refreshment  sorely  needed,  after  the  scram 
bling,  slipping,  and  sliding  over  and  down  loose  rocks  which  had 
been  dignified  with  the  name  of  marching,  during  the  preceding 
two  days.  Our  captives  were  the  recipients  of  every  attention 
that  we  could  give,  and  appeared  to  be  improving  rapidly,  and 
to  have  regained  the  good  spirits  which  are  normally  theirs. 
Mounted  couriers  were  sent  in  advance  to  Camp  MacDowell,  to 
let  it  be  known  that  we  were  coming  in  with  wounded,  and  the 
next  morning,  early,  we  set  out  for  that  post,  following  down  the 
course  of  what  was  known  as  Sycamore  Creek  to  the  Verde 
River,  which  latter  we  crossed  in  front  of  the  post. 


CHAPTEE    XI. 

THE  CAMPAIGN  RESUMED — EFFICIENCY  OF  APACHE  SCOUTS — JACK 
LONG  BREAKS  DOWN — A  BAND  OF  APACHES  SURRENDER 
IN  THE  MOUNTAINS — THE  EPIZOOTIC — THE  TAYLOR  MASSA 
CRE  AND  ITS  AVENGING— THE  ARIZONA  ROLL  OF  HONOR, 
OFFICERS,  MEN,  SURGEONS,  SCOUTS,  GUIDES,  AND  PACKERS — 
THE  STRANGE  RUIN  IN  THE  VERDE  VALLEY — DEATH  OF 
PRESILIANO  MONJE — THE  APACHES  SURRENDER  UNCONDI 
TIONALLY  TO  CROOK  AT  CAMP  VERDE. 

THE  wounded  squaws  were  forwarded  to  old  Camp  Grant, 
just  as  soon  as  able  to  travel,  and  our  command  remained 
for  several  days  in  the  camp,  until  joined  by  other  detachments, 
when  we  returned  to  the  Superstition  range,  this  time  in  consid 
erable  strength,  the  whole  force  consisting  of  the  companies  of 
Adams,  Montgomery,  Hamilton,  Taylor,  Burns,  and  Almy — all  of 
the  Fifth  Cavalry,  with  the  following  additional  officers  :  Lieu 
tenants  Rockwell,  Schuyler,  and  Keyes,  of  the  Fifth  ;  Ross,  of  the 
Twenty-third  Infantry ;  Bourke,  of  the  Third  Cavalry ;  and  Mr. 
James  Daily,  General  Crook's  brother-in-law,  as  volunteer.  The 
guides,  as  before,  were  Macintosh,  Felmer,  arid  Besias,  with  thirty 
Apache  scouts,  under  the  leadership  of  "Esquinosquizn."  This 
march  was  simply  a  repetition  of  the  former ;  there  was  the  same 
careful  attention  to  details — no  fires  allowed  except  when  the 
light  could  not  be  discerned  by  the  lynx-eyed  enemy  ;  no  shout 
ing,  singing,  whistling,  lighting  of  matches,  or  anything  else 
which  might  attract  attention.  There  was  the  same  amount  of 
night-marching,  side  scouting  to  either  flank  or  in  advance,  the 
same  careful  scrutiny  of  the  minutest  sign  on  the  trail.  The 
presence  of  the  Indian  scouts  saved  the  white  soldiers  a  great 
deal  of  extra  fatigue,  for  the  performance  of  which  the  Apaches 
were  better  qualified.  It  was  one  of  the  fundamental  principles 
upon  which  General  Crook  conducted  all  his  operations,  to  enlist 
as  many  of  the  Indians  as  could  be  induced  to  serve  as  scouts, 


LUSTRATION  RITES.  203 

because  by  this  means  he  not  only  subtracted  a  considerable  ele 
ment  from  those  in  hostility  and  received  hostages,  as  it  were, 
for  the  better  behavior  of  his  scouts'  kinsmen,  but  he  removed 
from  the  shoulders  of  his  men  an  immense  amount  of  arduous 
and  disagreeable  work,  and  kept  them  fresh  for  any  emergency 
that  might  arise.  The  Apaches  were  kept  constantly  out  on  the 
flanks,  under  the  white  guides,  and  swept  the  country  of  all 
hostile  bands.  The  white  troops  followed  upon  the  heels  of  the 
Indians,  but  at  a  short  distance  in  the  rear,  as  the  native  scouts 
were  better  acquainted  with  all  the  tricks  of  their  calling,  and 
familiar  with  every  square  acre  of  the  territory.  The  longer  we 
knew  the  Apache  scouts,  the  better  we  liked  them.  They  were 
wilder  and  more  suspicious  than  the  Pimas  and  Maricopas,  but 
far  more  reliable,  and  endowed  with  a  greater  amount  of  courage 
and  daring.  I  have  never  known  an  officer  whose  experience 
entitled  his  opinion  to  the  slightest  consideration,  who  did  not 
believe  as  I  do  on  this  subject.  On  this  scout  Captain  Hamilton 
was  compelled  to  send  back  his  Maricopas  as  worthless  ;  this  was 
before  he  joined  Brown  at  MacDowell. 

All  savages  have  to  undergo  certain  ceremonies  of  lustration 
after  returning  from  the  war-path  where  any  of  the  enemy  have 
been  killed.  With  the  Apaches  these  are  baths  in  the  sweat- 
lodge,  accompanied  with  singing  and  other  rites.  With  the 
Pimas  and  Maricopas  these  ceremonies  are  more  elaborate,  and 
necessitate  a  seclusion  from  the  rest  of  the  tribe  for  many  days, 
fasting,  bathing,  and  singing.  The  Apache  " bunches"  all  his 
religious  duties  at  these  times,  and  defers  his  bathing  until  he 
gets  home,  but  the  Pima  and  Maricopa  are  more  punctilious,  and 
resort  to  the  rites  of  religion  the  moment  a  single  one,  either  of 
their  own  numbers  or  of  the  enemy,  has  been  laid  low.  For  this 
reason  Brown  started  out  from  MacDowell  with  Apaches  only. 

It  was  noticed  with  some  concern  by  all  his  friends  that  old  Jack 
Long  was  beginning  to  break ;  the  fatigue  and  exertion  which 
the  more  juvenile  members  of  the  expedition  looked  upon  as 
normal  to  the  occasion,  the  night  marches,  the  exposure  to  the 
cold  and  wind  and  rain  and  snow,  the  climbing  up  and  down 
steep  precipices,  the  excitement,  the  going  without  food  or  water 
for  long  periods,  were  telling  visibly  upon  the  representative  of 
an  older  generation.  Hank  'n  Yank,  Chenoweth,  Frank  Monach, 


ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

and  Joe  Felmer  "'lowed  th'  ole  man  was  off  his  feed,"  but  it  was, 
in  truth,  only  the  summons  sent  him  by  Dame  Nature  that  he 
had  overdrawn  his  account,  and  was  to  be  in  the  future  bankrupt 
in  health  and  strength.  There  was  an  unaccountable  irritability 
about  Jack,  a  fretfulness  at  the  end  of  each  day's  climbing,  which 
spoke  more  than  words  could  of  enfeebled  strength  and  nervous 
prostration.  He  found  fault  with  his  cook,  formerly  his  pride 
and  boast.  "Be-gosh,"  he  remarked  one  evening,  "  seems  t'  me 
yer  a-burnin'  everything;  next  I  know,  ye  '11  be  a-burnin'  water." 
There  were  sarcastic  references  to  the  lack  of  "horse  sense" 
shown  by  certain  unnamed  "shave-tail  lef tenants"  in  the  com 
mand — shafts  which  rebounded  unnoticed  from  the  armor  of 
Schuyler  and  myself,  but  which  did  not  make  us  feel  any  too 
comfortable  while  the  old  veteran  was  around.  Day  by  day,  meal 
after  meal,  his  cook  grew  worse,  or  poor  Jack  grew  no  better. 
Nothing  spread  upon  the  canvas  would  tempt  Jack's  appetite ; 
he  blamed  it  all  on  the  culinary  artist,  never  dreaming  that  he 
alone  was  at  fault,  and  that  his  digestion  was  a  thing  of  the 
past,  and  beyond  the  skill  of  cook  or  condiment  to  revive. 

"He  ain't  a  pastry  cook,"  growled  Jack,  "nor  yet  a  hasty 
cook,  nor  a  tasty  cook,  but  fur  a  dog-goned  nasty  cook,  I'll  back 
'm  agin  th'  hull  Pacific  Slope."  When  he  heard  some  of  the 
packers  inveighing  against  Tucson  whiskey,  Jack's  rage  rose 
beyond  bounds.  "  Many  a  time  'n  oft,"  he  said,  "  Arizona  whis 
key  's  bin  plenty  good  enough  fur  th'  likes  o'  me  ;  it  's  good  's  a 
hoss  liniment,  'n  it 's  good  's  a  beverage,  'n  I've  tried  it  both  ways, 
'n  I  know  ;  'n  thet  's  more  'n  kin  be  said  f  or  .this  yere  dude  whiskey 
they  gits  in  Dilmonico's."  There  wasn't  a  drop  of  stimulant  as 
such,  with  the  whole  command,  that  I  knew  of,  but  in  my  own 
blankets  there  was  a  pint  flask  filled  with  rather  better  stuff  than 
was  ordinarily  to  be  obtained,  which  I  had  been  keeping  in  case 
of  snake  bites  or  other  accidents.  It  occurred  to  me  to  present  a 
good  drink  of  this  to  Jack,  but  as  I  did  not  like  to  do  this  with 
so  many  standing  around  the  fire,  I  approached  the  blankets 
upon  which  Jack  was  reclining,  and  asked:  "See  here,  Jack,  I 
want  you  to  try  this  water;  there's  something  very  peculiar 
about  it." 

"Thet  's  allers  th'  way  with  these  yere  shave-tail  lef tenants 
they  's  gittin'  in  th'  army  now-a-days ;  allers  complainin'  about 
su'thin ;  water  !  Lor'!  yer  orter  bin  with  me  when  I  was  minin'  up 


THE  PASSING  OF  JACK  LONG.  205 

on  th'  Frazer.  Then  ye  'd  a'  known  what  water  was  *  *  *  Water, 
be-gosh  !  why,  Major,  I  'II  never  forget  yer's  long's  I  live" — and 
in  the  exuberance  of  his  gratitude,  the  old  man  brevetted  me  two 
or  three  grades. 

From  that  on  Jack  and  I  were  sworn  friends  ;  he  never  levelled 
the  shafts  of  his  sarcasm  either  at  me  or  my  faithful  mule,  "  Ma 
laria."  "  Malaria  "  had  been  born  a  first-class  mule,  but  a  fairy 
godmother,  or  some  other  mysterious  cause,  had  carried  the  good 
mule  away,  and  left  in  its  place  a  lop-eared,  mangy  specimen, 
which  enjoyed  the  proud  distinction  of  being  considered,  without 
dissent,  the  meanest  mule  in  the  whole  Department  of  Arizona. 
Not  many  weeks  after  that  poor  old  Jack  died  ;  he  was  in  camp 
with  one  of  the  commands  on  the  San  Carlos,  and  broke  down 
entirely  ;  in  his  delirium  he  saw  the  beautiful  green  pastures  of 
the  Other  Side,  shaded  by  branching  oaks ;  he  heard  the  rippling 
of  pellucid  waters,  and  listened  to  the  gladsome  song  of  merry 
birds.  "Fellers,"  he  said,  "it  is  beautiful  over  thar ;  the  grass 
is  so  green,  and  the  water  so  cool ;  I  am  tired  of  marchin',  'n  I 
reckon  I  11  cross  over  'n  go  in  camp  " — so  poor  old  Jack  crossed 
over  to  come  back  no  more. 

All  through  the  Superstition  Mountains,  we  worked  as  care 
fully  as  we  had  worked  in  the  more  northern  portion  on  our  trip 
to  MacDowell,  but  we  met  with  'less  success  than  we  had  anti 
cipated  ;  on  the  morning  of  the  15th  of  January,  after  a  toilsome 
night-climb  over  rough  mesas  and  mountains,  we  succeeded  in 
crawling  upon  a  small  ranch eria  ere  the  first  rays  of  the  sun  had 
surmounted  the  eastern  horizon ;  but  the  occupants  were  too 
smart  for  us  and  escaped,  leaving  three  dead  in  our  hands  and 
thirteen  captives — women  and  children  ;  we  also  captured  the 
old  chief  of  the  band,  who,  like  his  people,  seemed  to  be  extremely 
poor.  Three  days  later  we  heard  loud  shouting  from  a  high 
mountain  to  the  left  of  the  trail  we  were  following.  Thinking 
at  first  that  it  was  from  some  hostile  parties,  Major  Brown  sent 
out  a  detachment  of  the  scouts  to  run  them  off.  In  about  half 
an  hour  or  less  a  young  boy  not  more  than  eight  years  old  came 
down  to  see  the  commanding  officer,  who  had  halted  the  column 
until  he  could  learn  what  was  wanted.  The  youngster  was  very 
much  agitated,  and  trembled  violently ;  he  said  that  he  had  been 
sent  down  to  say  that  his  people  did  not  want  any  more  war,  but 
were  desirous  of  making  peace.  He  was  given  something  to  eat 


206  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK 

and  tobacco  to  smoke,  and  afterwards  one  of  the  pack-mules  was 
led  up  and  its  "  cargo  "  unloaded  so  that  the  cook  might  give 
the  ambassador  a  good  stomachful  of  beans  always  kept  cooked 
in  a  train.  The  Apache  was  very  grateful,  and  after  talking  with 
the  scouts  was  much  more  at  his  ease.  He  was  presented  with 
an  old  blouse  by  one  of  the  officers,  and  then  Major  Brown  told 
him  that  he  was  too  young  to  represent  anybody,  but  not  too 
young  to  see  for  himself  that  we  did  not  want  to  harm  any  peo 
ple  who  were  willing  to  behave  themselves.  He  could  return  in 
safety  to  his  own  people  up  on  the  hill,  and  tell  them  that  they 
need  not  be  afraid  to  send  in  any  one  they  wished  to  talk  for 
them,  but  to  send  in  some  grown  persons.  The  boy  darted  up 
the  flanks  of  the  mountain  with  the  agility  of  a  jack  rabbit,  and 
was  soon  lost  to  view  in  the  undergrowth  of  scrub  oak  ;  by  the 
time  we  had  ascended  the  next  steep  grade  there  was  more 
shouting,  and  this  time  the  boy  returned  with  a  wrinkled  squaw, 
who  was  at  once  ordered  back — after  the  usual  feed — one  of  our 
people  going  with  her  to  tell  the  men  of  the  band  that  we  were 
not  women  or  babies,  and  that  we  could  talk  business  with  men 
only. 

This  summons  brought  back  a  very  decrepit  antique,  who  sup 
ported  his  palsied  limbs  upon  one  of  the  long  walking-canes  so 
much  in  use  among  the  Apaches.  He  too  was  the  recipient  of 
every  kindness,  but  was  told  firmly  that  the  time  for  fooling  had 
long  since  gone  by,  and  that  to-day  was  a  much  better  time  for 
surrendering  than  to-morrow  ;  our  command  would  not  harm 
them  if  they  wanted  to  make  peace,  but  the  country  was  full  of 
scouting  parties  and  at  any  moment  one  of  these  was  likely  to 
run  in  upon  them  and  kill  a  great  many  ;  the  best  thing,  the 
safest  thing,  for  them  to  do  was  to  surrender  at  once  and  come 
with  us  into  Camp  Grant.  The  old  chief  replied  that  it  was  not 
possible  for  him  to  surrender  just  then  and  there,  because  his 
band  had  scattered  upon  learning  of  our  approach,  but  if  we 
would  march  straight  for  Grant  he  would  send  out  for  all  his 
people,  gather  them  together,  and  catch  up  with  us  at  the  junc 
tion  of  the  Gila  and  San  Pedro,  and  then  accompany  us  to  Camp 
Grant  or  other  point  to  be  agreed  upon. 

We  moved  slowly  across  the  mountains,  getting  to  the  place  of 
meeting  on  the  day  assigned,  but  there  were  no  Indians,  and  we 
all  felt  that  we  had  been  outwitted.  The  scouts  however  said, 


THE  NEW  POST  OF  CAMP  GRANT.  207 

"  Wait  and  see  ! "  and  sure  enough,  that  evening,  the  old  chief  and 
a  small  party  of  his  men  arrived  and  had  another  talk  and  smoke 
with  Major  Brown,  who  told  them  that  the  only  thing  to  do  was 
to  see  General  Crook  whose  word  would  determine  all  questions. 
Every  man  in  the  column  was  anxious  to  get  back,  and  long 
before  reveille  most  of  them  were  up  and  ready  for  the  word  for 
breakfast  and  for  boots  and  saddles.  There  was  a  feeling  that  so 
far  as  the  country  south  of  the  Salt  River  was  concerned,  the 
campaign  was  over  ;  and  though  we  saw  no  men,  women,  or  chil 
dren  other  than  those  captured  by  us  on  the  way,  all  felt  that 
the  surrender  would  surely  take  place  as  agreed  upon. 

When  we  started  up  the  dusty  valley  of  the  San  Pedro  not  one 
of  the  strangers  had  arrived,  but  as  we  drew  nigh  to  the  site  of 
the  post,  it  seemed  as  if  from  behind  clusters  of  sage  brush, 
giant  cactus,  palo  verde  or  mesquite,  along  the  trail,  first  one, 
then  another,  then  a  third  Apache  would  silently  join  the  col 
umn  with  at  most  the  greeting  of  "Siquisn"  (My  brother). 
When  we  reported  to  Crook  again  at  the  post,  whither  he  had 
returned  from  MacDowell,  there  were  one  hundred  and  ten 
people  with  us,  and  the  whole  business  done  so  quietly  that  not 
one-half  the  command  ever  knew  whether  any  Apaches  had 
joined  us  or  not.  With  these  Indians  General  Crook  had  a  long 
and  satisfactory  talk,  and  twenty-six  of  them  enlisted  as  scouts. 
From  this  point  I  was  sent  by  General  Crook  to  accompany 
Major  Brown  in  a  visit  to  the  celebrated  chief  of  the  Chiricahua 
Apaches,  "  Cocheis,"  of  which  visit  I  will  speak  at  length  later  on. 

We  rejoined  the  command  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Graham,  where 
General  Crook  had  established  the  new  post  of  Camp  Grant.  It 
offered  many  inducements  which  could  not  well  be  disregarded 
in  that  arid  section  ;  the  Graham  Mountain,  or  Sierra  Bonita  as 
known  to  the  Mexicans,  is  well  timbered  with  pine  and  cedar ; 
has  an  abundance  of  pure  and  cold  water,  and  succulent  pastur 
age  ;  there  is  excellent  building-stone  and  adobe  clay  within 
reach,  and  nothing  that  could  reasonably  be  expected  is  lacking. 
There  were  twelve  or  thirteen  companies  of  cavalry  concentrated 
at  the  new  camp,  and  all  or  nearly  all  these  were,  within  a  few  days, 
on  the  march  for  the  Tonto  Basin,  to  give  it  another  overhauling. 

I  do  not  wish  to  describe  the  remainder  of  the  campaign  in 
detail ;  it  offered  few  features  not  already  presented  to  my 


208          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

readers ;  it  was  rather  more  unpleasant  than  the  first  part,  on 
account  of  being  to  a  greater  extent  amid  the  higher  elevations 
of  the  Sierra  Ancha  and  the  Matitzal  and  Mogollon,  to  which 
the  hostiles  had  retreated  for  safety.  There  was  deeper  snow 
and  much  more  of  it,  more  climbing  and  greater  heights  to  attain, 
severer  cold  and  more  discomfort  from  being  unable  to  find  dry 
fuel.  There  was  still  another  source  of  discomfort  which  should 
not  be  overlooked.  At  that  time  the  peculiar  disease  known  as 
the  epizootic  made  its  appearance  in  the  United  States,  and 
reached  Arizona,  crippling  the  resources  of  the  Department  in 
horses  and  mules ;  we  had  to  abandon  our  animals,  and  take  our 
rations  and  blankets  upon  our  own  backs,  and  do  the  best  we 
could.  In  a  very  few  weeks  the  good  results  became  manifest, 
and  the  enemy  showed  signs  of  weakening.  The  best  element  in 
this  campaign  was  the  fact  that  on  so  many  different  occasions 
the  Apaches  were  caught  in  the  very  act  of  raiding,  plundering, 
and  killing,  and  followed  up  with  such  fearful  retribution. 
Crook  had  his  forces  so  disposed  that  no  matter  what  the  Apaches 
might  do  or  not  do,  the  troops  were  after  them  at  once,  and, 
guided  as  we  were  by  scouts  from  among  their  own  people,  escape 
was  impossible.  For  example,  a  large  band  struck  the  settle 
ments  near  the  town  of  Wickenburg,  and  there  surprised  a  small 
party  of  young  men,  named  Taylor,  recently  arrived  from  Eng 
land  or  Wales.  All  in  the  party  fell  victims  to  the  merciless  aim 
of  the  assailants,  who  tied  two  of  them  to  cactus,  and  proceeded 
deliberately  to  fill  them  with  arrows.  One  of  the  poor  wretches 
rolled  and  writhed  in  agony,  breaking  off  the  feathered  ends  of 
the  arrows,  but  each  time  he  turned  his  body,  exposing  a  space 
not  yet  wounded,  the  Apaches  shot  in  another  barb.  The 
Indians  then  robbed  the  ranches,  stole  or  killed  all  the  cattle 
and  horses,  and  struck  out  across  the  ragged  edge  of  the  great 
Bradshaw  Mountain,  then  over  into  the  Tonto  Basin.  Having 
twenty-four  hours  the  start  of  the  troops,  they  felt  safe  in  their 
expedition,  but  they  were  followed  by  Wesendorf,  of  the  First 
Cavalry  ;  by  Eice,  of  the  Twenty-third  Infantry  ;  by  Almy,  Watts, 
and  myself  ;  by  Woodson,  of  the  Fifth ;  and  lastly  by  Eandall,  of 
the  Twenty- third,  who  was  successful  in  running  them  to  earth 
in  the  stronghold  on  the  summit  of  Turret  Butte,  where  they 
fancied  that  no  enemy  would  dare  follow. 

Eandall  made  his  men  crawl  up  the  face  of  the  mountain  on 


RANDALL'S  DEFEAT  OF  THE  APACHES.       209 

hands  and  feet,  to  avoid  all  danger  of  making  noise  by  the  rat 
tling  of  stones,  and  shortly  after  midnight  had  the  satisfaction 
of  seeing  the  glimmer  of  fires  amid  the  rocks  scattered  about  on 
the  summit.  He  waited  patiently  until  dawn,  and  then  led  the 
charge,  the  Apaches  being  so  panic-stricken  that  numbers  of  the 
warriors  jumped  down  the  precipice  and  were  dashed  to  death. 
This  and  the  action  in  the  cave  in  the  Salt  River  Cation  were 
the  two  affairs  which  broke  the  spirit  of  the  Apache  nation  ;  they 
resembled  each  other  in  catching  raiders  just  in  from  attacks 
upon  the  white  settlements  or  those  of  friendly  tribes,  in  surpris 
ing  bands  in  strongholds  which  for  generations  had  been  invested 
with  the  attribute  of  impregnability,  and  in  inflicting  great  loss 
with  comparatively  small  waste  of  blood  to  ourselves. 

In  singling  out  these  two  incidents  I,  of  course,  do  not  wish 
in  the  slightest  degree  to  seem  to  disparage  the  gallant  work  per 
formed  by  the  other  officers  engaged,  each  and  all  of  whom  are 
entitled  to  as  much  credit  as  either  Randall  or  Brown  for  earnest, 
intelligent  service,  gallantry  in  trying  situations,  and  cheerful 
acceptance  of  the  most  annoying  discomforts.  No  army  in  the 
world  ever  accomplished  more  with  the  same  resources  than  did 
the  little  brigade  which  solved  the  Apache  problem  under  Crook 
in  the  early  seventies.  There  were  no  supplies  of  food  beyond 
the  simplest  components  of  the  ration  and  an  occasional  can  of 
some  such  luxury  as  tomatoes  or  peaches ;  no  Pullman  cars  to 
transport  officers  in  ease  and  comfort  to  the  scene  of  hostilities ;  no 
telegraph  to  herald  to  the  world  the  achievements  of  each  day. 
There  was  the  satisfaction  of  duty  well  performed,  and  of  knowing 
that  a  fierce,  indomitable  people  who  had  been  a  scourge  in  the  his 
tory  of  two  great  nations  had  been  humbled,  made  to  sue  for  peace, 
and  adopt  to  a  very  considerable  extent  the  ways  of  civilization. 

The  old  settlers  in  both  northern  and  southern  Arizona  still 
speak  in  terms  of  cordial  appreciation  of  the  services  of  officers 
like  Hall,  Taylor,  Burns,  Almy,  Thomas,  Rockwell,  Price,  Park- 
hurst,  Michler,  Adam,  Woodson,  Hamilton,  Babcock,  Schuyler, 
and  Watts,  all  of  the  Fifth  Cavalry ;  Ross,  Reilley,  Sherwood, 
Theller  and  Major  Miles,  of  the  Twenty-first  Infantry  ;  Gar- 
vey,  Bomus,  Carr,  Grant,  Bernard,  Brodie,  Vail,  Wessendorf, 
McGregor,  Hein,  Winters,  Harris,  Sanford,  and  others,  of  the 
First  Cavalry ;  Randall,  Manning,  Rice,  and  others,  of  the 
Twenty-third  Infantry ;  Gerald  Russell,  Morton,  Crawford, 
14 


210          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

ford,  Gushing,  Cradlebaugh,  of  the  Third  Cavalry  ;  Byrne,  of  the 
Twelfth  Infantry,  and  many  others  who  during  this  campaign, 
or  immediately  preceding  it,  had  rendered  themselves  conspicu 
ous  by  most  efficient  service.  The  army  of  the  United  States  has 
no  reason  to  he  ashamed  of  the  men  who  wore  its  uniform  during 
the  dark  and  troubled  period  of  Arizona's  history ;  they  were 
grand  men  ;  they  had  their  faults  as  many  other  people  have, 
but  they  never  flinched  from  danger  or  privation.  I  do  not  mean 
to  say  that  I  have  given  a  complete  list ;  it  is  probable  that  many 
very  distinguished  names  have  been  omitted,  for  which  I  apolo 
gise  now  by  saying  that  I  am  not  writing  a  history,  but  rather 
a  series  of  reminiscences  of  those  old  border  days.  I  would  not 
intentionally  fail  in  paying  tribute  to  any  brave  and  deserving 
comrade,  but  find  it  beyond  my  power  to  enumerate  all. 

There  was  one  class  of  officers  who  were  entitled  to  all  the  praise 
they  received  and  much  more  besides,  and  that  class  was  the  sur 
geons,  who  never  flagged  in  their  attentions  to  sick  and  wounded, 
whether  soldier  or  officer,  American,  Mexican,  or  Apache  cap 
tive,  by  night  or  by  day.  Among  these  the  names  of  Stirling, 
Porter,  Matthews,  Girard,  O'Brien,  Warren  E.  Day,  Steiger, 
Charles  Smart,  and  Calvin  Dewitt  will  naturally  present  them 
selves  to  the  mind  of  any  one  familiar  with  the  work  then  going  on, 
and  with  them  should  be  associated  those  of  the  guides,  both  red 
and  white,  to  whose  fidelity,  courage,  and  skill  we  owed  so  much. 

The  names  of  Mason  McCoy,  Edward  Clark,  Archie  Macintosh, 
Al  Spears,  C.  E.  Cooley,  Joe  Felmer,  Al  Seiber,  Dan  O'Leary, 
Lew  Elliott,  Antonio  Besias,  Jose  De  Leon,  Maria  Jilda  Gri- 
jalba,  Victor  Ruiz,  Manuel  Duran,  Frank  Cahill,  Willard  Rice, 
Oscar  Hutton,  Bob  Whitney,  John  B.  Townsend,  Tom  Moore, 
Jim  O'Neal,  Jack  Long,  Hank  'n  Yank  (Hewitt  and  Bartlett), 
Frank  Monach,  Harry  Hawes,  Charlie  Hopkins,  and  many  other 
scouts,  guides,  and  packers  of  that  onerous,  dangerous,  and 
crushing  campaign,  should  be  inscribed  on  the  brightest  page  in 
the  annals  of  Arizona,  and  locked  up  in  her  archives  that  future 
generations  might  do  them  honor.  The  great  value  of  the  ser 
vices  rendered  by  the  Apache  scouts  " Alchesay,"  "Jim,"  "El- 
satsoosn,"  "Machol,"  "Blanquet,"  "Chiquito,"  "Kelsay," 
"Kasoha,"  "Nantaje,"  "  Nannasaddi,"  was  fittingly  acknowl 
edged  by  General  Crook  in  the  orders  issued  at  the  time  of  the 
surrender  of  the  .Apaches,  which  took  place  soon  after. 


THE  OLD  RUIN  ON  THE  VERDE.          211 

Many  enlisted  men  rendered  service  of  a  most  important  and 
efficient  character,  which  was  also  acknowledged  at  the  same  time 
and  by  the  same  medium  ;  but,  on  account  of  lack  of  space,  it  is 
impossible  for  me  to  mention  them  all ;  conspicuous  in  the  list  are 
the  names  of  Buford,  Turpin,  Von  Medern,  Allen,  Barrett,  Heine- 
man,  Stanley,  Orr,  Lanahan,  Stauffer,  Hyde,  and  Hooker. 

In  the  first  week  of  April,  a  deputation  from  the  hostile  bands 
reached  Camp  Verde,  and  expressed  a  desire  to  make  peace  ;  they 
were  told  to  return  for  the  head  chiefs,  with  whom  General  Crook 
would  talk  at  that  point.  Signal  fires  were  at  once  set  on  all  the 
hills,  scouts  sent  to  all  places  where  they  would  be  likely  to 
meet  with  any  of  the  detachments  in  the  Tonto  Basin  or  the 
Mogollon,  and  all  possible  measures  taken  to  prevent  any  further 
hostilities,  until  it  should  be  seen  whether  or  not  the  enemy 
were  in  earnest  in  professions  of  peace. 

Lieutenant  Jacob  Almy,  Fifth  Cavalry,  with  whose  command 
I  was  on  duty,  scoured  the  northwest  portion  of  the  Tonto  Basin, 
and  met  with  about  the  same  experiences  as  the  other  detach 
ments  ;  but  I  wish  to  tell  that  at  one  of  our  camping-places,  on 
the  upper  Verde,  we  found  a  ruined  building  of  limestone,  laid  in 
adobe,  which  had  once  been  of  two  or  three  stories  in  height,  the 
corner  still  standing  being  not  less  than  twenty-five  feet  above 
the  ground,  with  portions  of  rafters  of  cotton  wood,  badly  decayed, 
still  in  place.  It  was  the  opinion  of  both  Almy  and  myself,  after 
a  careful  examination,  that  it  was  of  Spanish  and  not  of  Indian 
origin,  and  that  it  had  served  as  a  depot  for  some  of  the  early 
expeditions  entering  this  country  ;  it  would  have  been  in  the  line 
of  advance  of  Coronado  upon  Cibola,  and  I  then  thought  and 
still  think  that  it  was  most  probably  connected  with  his  great 
expedition  which  passed  across  Arizona  in  1541.  All  this  is 
conjecture,  but  not  a  very  violent  one  ;  Coronado  is  known  to  have 
gone  to  "  Chichilticale,"  supposed  to  have  been  the  "Casa 
Grande  "  on  the  Gila  ;  if  so,  his  safest,  easiest,  best  supplied,  and 
most  natural  line  of  march  would  have  been  up  the  valley  of  the 
Verde  near  the  head  of  which  this  ruin  stands. 

Another  incident  was  the  death  of  one  of  our  packers,  Presili- 
ano  Monje,  a  very  amiable  man,  who  had  made  friends  of  all  our 
party.  He  had  caught  a  bad  cold  in  the  deep  snows  on  the  sum 
mit  of  the  Matitzal  Range,  and  this  developed  into  an  attack  of 


212          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

pneumonia  ;  there  was  no  medical  officer  with  our  small  command, 
and  all  we  could  do  was  based  upon  ignorance  and  inexperience, 
no  matter  how  much  we  might  desire  to  help  him.  Almy  hoped 
that  upon  descending  from  the  high  lands  into  the  warm  valley 
of  the  Verde,  the  change  would  be  beneficial  to  our  patient ;  but 
he  was  either  too  far  gone  or  too  weak  to  respond,  and  the  only 
thing  left  for  us  to  do  was  to  go  into  bivouac  and  try  the  effect 
of  rest  and  quiet.  For  two  days  we  had  carried  Monje  in  a  chair 
made  of  mescal  stalks  strapped  to  the  saddle,  but  he  was  by  this 
time  entirely  too  weak  to  sit  up,  and  we  were  all  apprehensive  of 
the  worst.  It  was  a  trifle  after  midnight,  on  the  morning  of  the 
23d  of  March,  1873,  that  "the  change"  came,  and  we  saw  that 
it  was  a  matter  of  minutes  only  until  we  should  have  a  death  in 
our  camp;  he  died  before  dawn  and  was  buried  immediately 
after  sunrise,  under  the  shadow  of  a  graceful  cottonwood,  along 
side  of  two  pretty  springs  whose  babbling  waters  flowed  in  unison 
with  the  music  of  the  birds.  In  Monje's  honor  we  named  the 
canon  "Dead  Man's  Canon,"  and  as  such  it  is  known  to  this 
day. 

At  Camp  Verde  we  found  assembled  nearly  all  of  Crook's 
command,  and  a  dirtier,  greasier,  more  uncouth-looking  set  of 
officers  and  men  it  would  be  hard  to  encounter  anywhere.  Dust, 
soot,  rain,  and  grime  had  made  their  impress  upon  the  canvas 
suits  which  each  had  donned,  and  with  hair  uncut  for  months 
and  beards  growing  with  straggling  growth  all  over  the  face, 
there  was  not  one  of  the  party  who  would  venture  to  pose  as  an 
Adonis ;  but  all  were  happy,  because  the  campaign  had  resulted 
in  the  unconditional  surrender  of  the  Apaches  and  we  were  now 
to  see  the  reward  of  our  hard  work.  On  the  6th  of  April,  1873, 
the  Apache-Mojave chief  "  Cha-lipun "  (called  "Charley  Pan  "  by 
the  Americans),  with  over  three  hundred  of  his  followers,  made 
his  unconditional  submission  to  General  Crook  ;  they  represented 
twenty-three  hundred  of  the  hostiles. 

General  Crook  sat  on  the  porch  of  Colonel  Coppinger's  quar 
ters  and  told  the  interpreters  that  he  was  ready  to  hear  what  the 
Indians  had  to  say,  but  he  did  not  wish  too  much  talk.  "  Cha- 
lipun"  said  that  he  had  come  in,  as  the  representative  of  all  the 
Apaches,  to  say  that  they  wanted  to  surrender  because  General 
Crook  had  "too  many  cartridges  of  copper"  ("  demasiadas 
cartuchos  de  cobre  ").  They  had  never  been  afraid  of  the  Amer- 


"  CHA-LIPUN'S  "   MOTIVES  FOR  MAKING  PEACE.        213 

leans  alone,  but  now  that  their  own  people  were  fighting  against 
them  they  did  not  know  what  to  do  ;  they  could  not  go  to  sleep 
at  night,  because  they  feared  to  be  surrounded  before  daybreak  ; 
they  could  not  hunt — the  noise  of  their  guns  would  attract  the 
troops  ;  they  could  not  cook  mescal  or  anything  else,  because  the 
flame  and  smoke  would  draw  down  the  soldiers ;  they  could  not 
live  in  the  valleys — there  were  too  many  soldiers ;  they  had  re 
treated  to  the  mountain  tops,  thinking  to  hide  in  the  snow  until 
the  soldiers  went  home,  but  the  scouts  found  them  out  and  the 
soldiers  followed  them.  They  wanted  to  make  peace,  and  to  be 
at  terms  of  good- will  with  the  whites. 

Crook  took  ' '  Cha-lipun  "  by  the  hand,  and  told  him  that,  if  he 
would  promise  to  live  at  peace  and  stop  killing  people,  he  would 
be  the  best  friend  he  ever  had.  Not  one  of  the  Apaches  had 
been  killed  except  through  his  own  folly ;  they  had  refused  to 
listen  to  the  messengers  sent  out  asking  them  to  come  in  ;  and 
consequently  there  had  been  nothing  else  to  do  but  to  go  out 
and  kill  them  until  they  changed  their  minds.  It  was  of  no  use  to 
talk  about  who  began  this  war ;  there  were  bad  men  among  all 
peoples  ;  there  were  bad  Mexicans,  as  there  were  bad  Americans 
and  bad  Apaches  ;  our  duty  was  to  end  wars  and  establish  peace, 
and  not  to  talk  about  what  was  past  and  gone.  The  Apaches  must 
make  this  peace  not  for  a  day  or  a  week,  but  for  all  time ;  not 
with  the  Americans  alone,  but  with  the  Mexicans  as  well ;  and 
not  alone  with  the  Americans  and  Mexicans,  but  with  all  the 
other  Indian  tribes.  They  must  not  take  upon  themselves  the 
redress  of  grievances,  but  report  to  the  military  officer  upon  their 
reservation,  who  would  see  that  their  wrongs  were  righted.  They 
should  remain  upon  the  reservation,  and  not  leave  without  writ 
ten  passes  ;  whenever  the  commanding  officer  wished  to  ascertain 
the  presence  of  themselves  or  any  of  the  bands  upon  the  reserva 
tion,  they  should  appear  at  the  place  appointed  to  be  counted. 
So  long  as  any  bad  Indians  remained  out  in  the  mountains,  the 
reservation  Indians  should  wear  tags  attached  to  the  neck,  or  in 
some  other  conspicuous  place,  upon  which  tags  should  be  inscribed 
their  number,  letter  of  band,  and  other  means  of  identification. 
They  should  not  cut  off  the  noses  of  their  wives  when  they 
became  jealous  of  them.  They  should  not  be  told  anything  that 
was  not  exactly  true.  They  should  be  fully  protected  in  all  re 
spects  while  on  the  reservation.  They  should  be  treated  exactly 


214          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

as  white  men  were  treated ;  there  should  be  no  unjust  punish 
ments.  They  must  work  like  white  men  ;  a  market  would  be 
found  for  all  they  could  raise,  and  the  money  should  be  paid 
to  themselves  and  not  to  middlemen.  They  should  begin  work 
immediately  ;  idleness  was  the  source  of  all  evils,  and  work  was 
the  only  cure.  They  should  preserve  order  among  themselves  ; 
for  this  purpose  a  number  would  be  enlisted  as  scouts,  and  made 
to  do  duty  in  keeping  the  peace  ;  they  should  arrest  and  confine 
all  drunkards,  thieves,  and  other  offenders. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE  PEOBLEM  OF  CIVILIZING  THE  APACHES — THE  WORK  PER 
FORMED  BY  MASON,  SCHUYLER,  RANDALL,  RICE,  AND  BAB- 
COCK — TUCSON  RING  INFLUENCE  AT  WASHINGTON — THE 
WOUNDING  OF  LIEUTENANT  CHARLES  KING — THE  KILLING 
OF  LIEUTENANT  JACOB  ALMY — THE  SEVEN  APACHE  HEADS 
LAID  ON  THE  SAN  CARLOS  PARADE  GROUND — CROOK'S  CASH 
MARKET  FOR  THE  FRUITS  OF  APACHE  INDUSTRY — HIS  METHOD 
OF  DEALING  WITH  INDIANS. 

nnHERE  was  no  time  lost  in  putting  the  Apaches  to  work.  As 
-L  soon  as  the  rest  of  the  band  had  come  in,  which  was  in  less 
than  a  week,  the  Apaches  were  compelled  to  begin  getting  out  an 
irrigating  ditch,  under  the  superintendence  of  Colonel  Julius  W. 
Mason,  Fifth  Cavalry,  an  officer  of  much  previous  experience  in 
engineering.  Their  reservation  was  established  some  miles  above 
the  post,  and  the  immediate  charge  of  the  savages  was  intrusted 
to  Lieutenant  Walter  S.  Schuyler,  Fifth  Cavalry,  who  manifested 
a  wonderful  aptitude  for  the  delicate  duties  of  his  extra-military 
position.  There  were  absolutely  no  tools  on  hand  belonging  to 
the  Indian  Bureau,  and  for  that  matter  no  medicines,  and  only 
the  scantiest  supplies,  but  Crook  was  determined  that  work 
should  be  begun  without  the  delay  of  a  day.  He  wanted  to  get 
the  savages  interested  in  something  else  besides  tales  of  the  war 
path,  and  to  make  them  feel  as  soon  as  possible  the  pride  of  own 
ership,  in  which  he  was  a  firm  believer. 

According  to  his  idea,  the  moment  an  Indian  began  to  see  the 
fruits  of  his  industry  rising  above  the  ground,  and  knew  that 
there  was  a  ready  cash  market  awaiting  him  for  all  he  had  to  sell, 
he  would  see  that  "  peace  hath  her  victories  no  less  renowned 
than  war."  He  had  been  going  on  the  war-path,  killing  and  rob 
bing  the  whites,  not  so  much  because  his  forefathers  had  been 
doing  it  before  him,  but  because  it  was  the  road  to  wealth,  to 
fame,  to  prominence  and  distinction  in  the  tribe.  Make  the 


216          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Apache  or  any  other  Indian  see  that  the  moment  he  went  on  the 
war-path  two  white  men  would  go  out  also  ;  and  make  him  see 
that  patient  industry  produces  wealth,  fame,  and  distinction  of 
a  much  more  permanent  and  a  securer  kind  than  those  derived 
from  a  state  of  war,  and  the  Indian  would  acquiesce  gladly  in  the 
change.  But  neither  red  man  nor  white  would  submit  peaceably 
to  any  change  in  his  mode  of  life  which  was  not  apparently  to  his 
advantage. 

The  way  the  great  irrigating  ditch  at  Camp  Verde  was  dug 
was  this.  All  the  Apaches  were  made  to  camp  along  the  line  of 
the  proposed  canal,  each  band  under  its  own  chiefs.  Everything 
in  the  shape  of  a  tool  which  could  be  found  at  the  military  post 
of  Camp  Verde  or  in  those  of  Whipple  and  Hualpai  was  sent 
down  to  Mason.  There  were  quantities  of  old  and  worn-out 
spades,  shovels,  picks,  hatchets,  axes,  hammers,  files,  rasps,  and 
camp  kettles  awaiting  the  action  of  an  inspector  prior  to  being 
thrown  away  and  dropped  from  the  returns  as  "  worn  out  in  ser 
vice."  With  these  and  with  sticks  hardened  in  the  fire,  the 
Apaches  dug  a  ditch  five  miles  long,  and  of  an  average  cross- 
section  of  four  feet  wide  by  three  deep,  although  there  were 
places  where  the  width  of  the  upper  line  was  more  than  five  feet, 
and  that  of  the  bottom  four,  with  a  depth  of  more  than  five. 
The  men  did  the  excavating  ;  the  women  carried  off  the  earth  in 
the  conical  baskets  which  they  make  of  wicker-work.  As  soon 
as  the  ditch  was  ready,  General  Crook  took  some  of  the  chiefs  up 
to  his  headquarters  at  Fort  Whipple,  and  there  had  them  meet 
deputations  from  all  the  other  tribes  living  within  the  territory 
of  Arizona,  with  whom  they  had  been  at  war — the  Pimas,  Papa- 
goes,  Maricopas,  Yumas,  Cocopahs,  Hualpais,  Mojaves,  Chima- 
huevis — and  with  them  peace  was  also  formally  made. 

Mason  and  Schuyler  labored  assiduously  with  the  Apaches,  and 
soon  had  not  less  than  fifty-seven  acres  of  land  planted  with 
melons  and  other  garden  truck,  of  which  the  Indians  are  fond, 
and  every  preparation  made  for  planting  corn  and  barley  on  a 
large  scale.  A  large  water- wheel  was  constructed  out  of  packing- 
boxes,  and  at  a  cost  to  the  Government,  including  all  labor 
and  material,  of  not  quite  thirty-six  dollars.  The  prospects  of 
the  Apaches  looked  especially  bright,  and  there  was  hope  that 
they  might  soon  be  self-sustaining  ;  but  it  was  not  to  be.  A 
"  ring  "  of  Federal  officials,  contractors,  and  others  was  formed 


THE   REMOVE  TO   THE  SAN  CARLOS.  217 

in  Tucson,  which,  exerted  great  influence  in  the  national  capital, 
and  succeeded  in  securing  the  issue  of  peremptory  orders  that  the 
Apaches  should  leave  at  once  for  the  mouth  of  the  sickly  San 
Carlos,  there  to  be  herded  with  the  other  tribes.  It  was  an  out 
rageous  proceeding,  one  for  which  I  should  still  blush  had  I  not 
long  since  gotten  over  blushing  for  anything  that  the  United 
States  Government  did  in  Indian  matters.  The  Apaches  had 
been  very  happy  at  the  Verde,  and  seemed  perfectly  satisfied  with 
their  new  surroundings.  There  had  been  some  sickness,  occa 
sioned  by  their  using  too  freely  the  highly  concentrated  foods  of 
civilization,  to  which  they  had  never  been  accustomed  ;  but,  aside 
from  that,  they  themselves  said  that  their  general  condition  had 
never  been  so  good. 

The  move  did  not  take  place  until  the  winter  following,  when, 
the  Indians  flatly  refused  to  follow  the  special  agent  sent  out  by 
the  Indian  Bureau,  not  being  acquainted  with  him,  but  did  con 
sent  to  go  with  Lieutenant  George  0.  Eaton,  Fifth  Cavalry,  who 
has  long  since  resigned  from  the  army,  and  is  now,  I  think,  Sur 
veyor-General  of  Montana.  At  Fort  Apache  the  Indians  were 
placed  under  the  charge  of  Major  George  M,  Randall,  Twenty- 
third  Infantry,  assisted  by  Lieutenant  Rice,  of  the  same  regiment. 
This  portion  of  the  Apache  tribe  is  of  unusual  intelligence,  and 
the  progress  made  was  exceptionally  rapid.  Another  large  body 
had  been  congregated  at  the  mouth  of  the  San  Carlos,  representing 
those  formerly  at  old  Camp  Grant,  to  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
were  added  the  Apache-Mojaves  from  the  Verde.  The  Apache- 
Mo  jave  and  the  Apache -Yuma  belonged  to  one  stock,  and  the 
Apache  or  Tinneh  to  another.  They  speak  different  languages, 
and  although  their  habits  of  life  are  almost  identical,  there  is 
sufficient  divergence  to  admit  of  the  entrance  of  the  usual  jeal 
ousies  and  bickerings  bound  to  arise  when  two  strange,  illiterate 
tribes  are  brought  in  enforced  contact. 

The  strong  hand  and  patient  will  of  Major  J.  B.  Babcock 
ruled  the  situation  at  this  point  ;  he  was  the  man  for  the  place, 
and  performed  his  duties  in  a  manner  remarkable  for  its  delicate 
appreciation  of  the  nature  of  the  Indians,  tact  in  allaying  their 
suspicions,  gentle  firmness  in  bringing  them  to  see  that  the  new 
way  was  the  better,  the  only  way.  The  path  of  the  military 
officers  was  not  strewn  with  roses  ;  the  Apaches  showed  a  will 
ingness  to  conform  to  the  new  order  of  things,  but  at  times 


218  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

failed  to  apprehend  all  that  was  required  of  them,  at  others 
showed  an  inclination  to  backslide. 

Crook's  plan  was  laid  down  in  one  line  in  his  instructions  to 
officers  in  charge  of  reservations  :  "  Treat  them  as  children  in 
ignorance,  not  in  innocence."  His  great  principle  of  life  was, 
"The  greatest  of  these  is  charity."  He  did  not  believe,  and  he 
did  not  teach,  that  an  Indian  could  slough  off  the  old  skin  in  a 
week  or  a  month  ;  he  knew  and  he  indicated  that  there  might 
be  expected  a  return  of  the  desire  for  the  old  wild  life,  with  its 
absolute  freedom  from  all  restraint,  its  old  familiar  food,  and  all 
its  attendant  joys,  such  as  they  were.  To  conquer  this  as  much 
as  possible,  he  wanted  to  let  the  Indians  at  times  cut  and  roast 
mescal,  gather  grass  seeds  and  other  diet  of  that  kind,  and,  where 
it  could  be  done  without  risk,  go  out  on  hunts  after  antelope  and 
deer.  It  could  not  be  expected  that  all  the  tribe  should  wish  to 
accept  the  manner  of  life  of  the  whites  ;  there  would  surely  be 
many  who  would  prefer  the  old  order  of  things,  and  who  would 
work  covertly  for  its  restitution.  Such  men  were  to  be  singled 
out,  watched,  and  their  schemes  nipped  in  the  bud. 

There  were  outbreaks,  attempted  outbreaks,  and  rumors  of 
outbreaks  at  Verde,  Apache,  and  at  the  San  Carlos,  with  all  the 
attendant  excitement  and  worry.  At  or  near  the  Verde,  in  the 
" Eed  Rock  country/'  and  in  the  difficult  brakes  of  the  "Hell" 
and  "  Rattlesnake "  cafions  issuing  out  of  the  San  Francisco 
Peak,  some  of  the  Apache-Mojaves  who  had  slipped  back  from 
the  party  so  peremptorily  ordered  to  the  San  Carlos  had  secreted 
themselves  and  begun  to  give  trouble.  They  were  taken  in  hand 
by  Schuyler,  Seiber,  and,  at  a  later  date,  by  Captain  Charles 
King,  the  last-named  being  dangerously  wounded  by  them  at 
the  "Sunset  Pass."  At  the  San  Carlos  Agency  there  were  dis 
putes  of  various  kinds  springing  up  among  the  tribes,  and  worse 
than  that  a  very  acrimonious  condition  of  feeling  between  the 
two  men  who  claimed  to  represent  the  Interior  Department.  As 
a  sequel  to  this,  my  dear  friend  and  former  commanding  officer, 
Lieutenant  Jacob  Almy,  lost  his  life. 

Notwithstanding  the  chastisement  inflicted  upon  the  Apaches, 
some  of  the  minor  chiefs,  who  had  still  a  record  to  make,  preferred 
to  seclude  themselves  in  the  caflons  and  cliffs,  and  defy  the  powers 
of  the  general  government.  It  was  a  source  of  pride  to  know  that 
they  were  talked  about  by  the  squaws  and  children  upon  the 


OBJECTION  TO   "TAGGING."  219 

reserve,  as  men  whom  the  whites  had  not  been  able  to  capture  or 
reduce.  Towards  these  men,  Crook  was  patient  to  a  wonderful 
degree,  thinking  that  reason  would  assert  itself  after  a  time,  and 
that,  either  of  their  own  motion,  or  through  the  persuasion  of 
friends,  they  would  find  their  way  into  the  agencies. 

The  ostensible  reason  for  the  absence  of  these  men  was  their 
objection  to  the  system  of  "  tagging  "  in  use  at  the  agencies,  which 
General  Crook  had  introduced  for  the  better  protection  of  the 
Indians,  as  well  as  to  enable  the  commanding  officers  to  tell  at  a 
moment's  notice  just  where  each  and  every  one  of  the  males 
capable  of  bearing  arms  was  to  be  found.  These  tags  were  of 
various  shapes,  but  all  small  and  convenient  in  size  ;  there  were 
crosses,  crescents,  circles,  diamonds,  squares,  triangles,  etc.,  each 
specifying  a  particular  band,  and  each  with  the  number  of  its 
owner  punched  upon  it.  If  a  scouting  party  found  Apaches 
away  from  the  vicinity  of  the  agencies,  they  would  make  them 
give  an  account  of  themselves,  and  if  the  pass  shown  did  not  cor 
respond  with  the  tags  worn,  then  there  was  room  for  suspicion 
that  the  tags  had  been  obtained  from  some  of  the  Agency  Indians 
in  gambling — in  the  games  of  "  Con  Quien,"  "  Tze-chis,"  "  Mush- 
ka" — to  which  the  Apaches  were  passionately  addicted,  and  in 
which  they  would  play  away  the  clothes  on  their  backs  when  they 
had  any.  Word  was  sent  to  the  Indians  of  whom  I  am  writing  to 
come  in  and  avoid  trouble,  and  influences  of  all  kinds  were  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  squaws  with  them — there  were  only  a  few — to 
leave  the  mountains,  and  return  to  their  relatives  at  the  San  Carlos. 
The  principal  chiefs  were  gradually  made  to  see  that  they  were 
responsible  for  this  condition  of  affairs,  and  that  they  should  com 
pel  these  outlaws  to  obey  the  orders  which  had  been  issued  for  the 
control  of  the  whole  tribe.  So  long  as  they  killed  no  one  the 
troops  and  Apache  scouts  would  not  be  sent  out  against  them  ; 
they  should  be  given  ample  opportunity  for  deciding ;  but  it 
might  be  well  for  them  to  decide  quickly,  as  in  case  of  trouble 
arising  at  San  Carlos,  the  whole  tribe  would  be  held  responsible 
for  the  acts  of  these  few.  One  of  them  was  named  "  Chuntz," 
another  "  Chaundezi,"  and  another  "Clibicli ;  "  there  were  more 
in  the  party,  but  the  other  names  have  temporarily  escaped  my 
memory.  The  meaning  of  the  first  word  I  do  not  know ;  the 
second  means  "Long  Ear,"  and  is  the  Apache  term  for  mule; 
the  third  I  do  not  know,  but  it  has  something  to  do  with  horse, 


220          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

the  first  syllable  meaning  horse,  and  the  whole  word,  I  believe, 
means  "the  horse  that  is  tied/'  They  lived  in  the  canon  of  the 
Gila,  and  would  often  slip  in  by  night  to  see  their  relatives  at 
the  agency. 

One  night  there  was  an  awful  time  at  San  Carlos  ;  a  train  of 
wagons  laden  with  supplies  for  Camp  Apache  had  halted  there, 
and  some  of  the  teamsters  let  the  Apaches,  among  whom  were 
the  bad  lot  under  Chuntz,  have  a  great  deal  of  vile  whiskey.  All 
hands  got  gloriously  drunk,  and  when  the  teamsters  refused  to 
let  their  red-skinned  friends  have  anymore  of  the  poisonous  stuff 
the  Apaches  killed  them.  If  it  could  only  happen  so  that  every 
man  who  sold  whiskey  to  an  Indian  should  be  killed  before  sun 
down,  it  would  be  one  of  the  most  glorious  things  for  the  far 
western  country.  In  the  present  case,  innocent  people  were  hurt, 
as  they  always  are ;  and  General  Crook  informed  the  chiefs  that 
he  looked  to  them  to  put  a  prompt  termination  to  such  excesses, 
and  that  if  they  did  not  he  would  take  a  hand  himself.  With 
that  he  returned  to  headquarters.  The  chiefs  sent  out  spies, 
definitely  placed  the  outlaws,  who  had  been  in  the  habit  of  chang 
ing  their  lodging  or  hiding  spots  with  great  frequency,  and  then 
arranged  for  their  capture  and  delivery  to  the  military  authorities. 
They  were  surprised,  summoned  to  surrender,  refused,  and 
attempted  to  fight,  but  were  all  killed ;  and  as  the  Apaches  knew 
no  other  mode  of  proving  that  they  had  killed  them,  and  as  they 
could  not  carry  in  the  whole  body  of  each  one,  they  cut  off  the 
heads  and  brought  them  to  San  Carlos,  in  a  sack,  and  dumped 
them  out  on  the  little  parade  in  front  of  the  commanding  officer's 
tent. 

The  Apaches  of  Arizona  were  now  a  conquered  tribe,  and,  as 
Crook  well  expressed  the  situation  in  a  General  Order,  his  troops 
had  terminated  a  campaign  which  had  lasted  from  the  days  of 
Cortes.  The  view  entertained  of  the  work  performed  in  Arizona 
by  those  in  authority  may  be  summed  up  in  the  orders  issued  by 
General  Schofield,  at  that  date  in  command  of  the  Military 
Division  of  the  Pacific  : 

[General  Orders  No.  7.] 

HEADQUARTERS  MILITARY  DIVISION  or  THE  PACIFIC, 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.,  April  28,  1873. 

To  Brevet  Major-General  George  Crook,  commanding  the  Department  of 
Arizona,  and  to  his  gallant  troops,  for  the  extraordinary  service  they  have 


APACHE  IMPROVEMENT.  221 

rendered  in  the  late  campaign  against  the  Apache  Indians,  the  Division 
Commander  extends  his  thanks  and  his  congratulations  upon  their  brilliant 
successes.  They  have  merited  the  gratitude  of  the  nation. 

By  order  of  MAJOR-GENERAL  SCHOFIELD. 
(Signed)  J,  C,  KELTON, 

Assistant  Adjutant- General. 

Randall  and  Babcock  persevered  in  their  work,  and  soon  a 
change  had  appeared  in  the  demeanor  of  the  wild  Apaches  ;  at 
San  Carlos  there  grew  up  a  village  of  neatly  made  brush  huts, 
arranged  in  rectilinear  streets,  carefully  swept  each  morning, 
while  the  huts  themselves  were  clean  as  pie-crust,  the  men  and 
women  no  longer  sleeping  on  the  bare  ground,  but  in  bunks  made 
of  saplings,  and  elevated  a  foot  or  more  above  the  floor  ;  on  these, 
blankets  were  neatly  piled.  The  scouts  retained  in  service  as  a 
police  force  were  quietly  given  to  understand  that  they  must  be 
models  of  cleanliness  and  good  order  as  well  as  of  obedience  to 
law.  The  squaws  were  encouraged  to  pay  attention  to  dress,  and 
especially  to  keep  their  hair  clean  and  brushed.  No  abuse  of  a 
squaw  was  allowed,  no  matter  what  the  excuse  might  be.  One 
of  the  most  prominent  men  of  the  Hualpai  tribe — "  Qui-ua-than- 
yeva" — was  sentenced  to  a  year's  imprisonment  because  he  per 
sisted  in  cutting  off  the  nose  of  one  of  his  wives.  This  fearful 
custom  finally  yielded,  and  there  are  now  many  people  in  the 
Apache  tribe  itself  who  have  never  seen  a  poor  woman  thus  dis 
figured  and  humiliated. 

Crook's  promise  to  provide  a  ready  cash  market  for  everything 
the  Apacbes  could  raise  was  nobly  kept.  To  begin  with,  the  en 
listment  of  a  force  of  scouts  who  were  paid  the  same  salary  as 
white  soldiers,  and  at  the  same  periods  with  them,  introduced 
among  the  Apaches  a  small,  but  efficient,  working  capital.  Un 
accustomed  to  money,  the  men,  after  receiving  their  first  pay, 
spent  much  of  it  foolishly  for  candy  and  other  trivial  things. 
Nothing  was  said  about  that ;  they  were  to  be  made  to  under 
stand  that  the  money  paid  them  was  their  own  to  spend  or  to 
save  as  they  pleased,  and  to  supply  as  much  enjoyment  as  they 
could  extract  from  it.  But,  immediately  after  pay-day,  General 
Crook  went  among  the  Apaches  on  the  several  reservations  and 
made  inquiries  of  each  one  of  the  principal  chiefs  what  results  had 
come  to  their  wives  and  families  from  this  new  source  of  wealth. 
He  explained  that  money  could  be  made  to  grow  just  as  an  acorn 


222          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

would  grow  into  the  oak;  that  by  spending  it  foolishly,  the 
Apaches  treated  it  just  as  they  did  the  acorn  which  they  trod 
under  foot ;  but  by  investing  their  money  in  California  horses 
and  sheep,  they  would  be  gaining  more  money  all  the  time  they 
slept,  and  by  the  time  their  children  had  attained  maturity  the 
hills  would  be  dotted  with  herds  of  horses  and  flocks  of  sheep. 
Then  they  would  be  rich  like  the  white  men  ;  then  they  could 
travel  about  and  see  the  world  ;  then  they  would  not  be  depend 
ent  upon  the  Great  Father  for  supplies,  but  would  have  for 
themselves  and  their  families  all  the  food  they  could  eat,  and 
would  have  much  to  sell. 

The  Apaches  did  send  into  Southern  California  and  bought 
horses  and  sheep  as  suggested,  and  they  would  now  be  self-sup 
porting  had  the  good  management  of  General  Crook  not  been 
ruthlessly  sacrificed  and  destroyed.  Why  it  is  that  the  Apache, 
living  as  he  does  on  a  reservation  offering  all  proper  facilities  for 
the  purpose,  is  not  raising  his  own  meat,  is  one  of  the  conundrums 
which  cannot  be  answered  by  any  one  of  common  sense.  The 
influences  against  it  are  too  strong  :  once  let  the  Indian  be  made 
self-supporting,  and  what  will  become  of  the  gentle  contractor  ? 

Some  slight  advance  has  been  made  in  this  direction  during 
the  past  twenty  years,  but  it  has  been  ridiculously  slight  in  com 
parison  with  what  it  should  have  been.  In  an  examination  which 
General  Crook  made  into  the  matter  in  1884  it  was  found  that 
there  were  several  herds  of  cattle  among  the  Indians,  one  herd 
that  I  saw  numbering  384  head.  It  was  cared  for  and  herded  in 
proper  manner ;  and  surely  if  the  Apaches  can  do  that  much 
in  one,  or  two,  or  a  dozen  cases,  they  can  do  it  in  all  with  any 
thing  like  proper  encouragement.  The  proper  encouragement  of 
which  I  speak  is  "the  ready  cash  market"  promised  by  Gen 
eral  Crook,  and  by  means  of  which  he  effected  so  much. 

In  every  band  of  aborigines,  as  in  every  community  of  whites, 
or  of  blacks,  or  of  Chinese,  there  are  to  be  found  men  and  women 
who  are  desirous  of  improving  the  condition  of  themselves  and 
families  ;  and  alongside  of  them  are  others  who  care  for  nothing 
but  their  daily  bread,  and  are  not  particularly  careful  how  they 
get  that  so  that  they  get  it.  There  should  be  a  weeding  out  of 
the  progressive  from  the  non-progressive  element,  and  by  no 
manner  of  means  can  it  be  done  so  effectually  as  by  buying  from 
the  industrious  all  that  they  can  sell  to  the  Government  for  the 


THE  CONTRACT   SYSTEM.  223 

support  of  their  own  people.  There  should  be  inserted  in  every 
appropriation  bill  for  the  support  of  the  army  or  of  the  Indians 
the  provision  that  anything  and  everything  called  for  under  a 
contract  for  supplies,  which  the  Indians  on  a  reservation  or  in  the 
vicinity  of  a  military  post  can  supply,  for  the  use  of  the  troops  or 
for  the  consumption  of  the  tribe,  under  treaty  stipulations,  shall 
be  bought  of  the  individual  Indians  raising  it  and  at  a  cash  price 
not  less  than  the  price  at  which  the  contract  has  been  awarded. 
For  example,  because  it  is  necessary  to  elucidate  the  simplest  prop 
ositions  in  regard  to  the  Indians,  if  the  chief  "A"  has,  by  indus 
try  and  thrift,  gathered  together  a  herd  of  one  hundred  cattle, 
all  of  the  increase  that  he  may  wish  to  sell  should  be  bought  from 
him  ;  he  will  at  once  comprehend  that  work  has  its  own  reward, 
and  a  very  prompt  and  satisfactory  one.  He  has  his  original 
numbers,  and  he  has  a  snug  sum  of  money  too  ;  he  buys  more 
cattle,  he  sees  that  he  is  becoming  a  person  of  increased  impor 
tance,  not  only  in  the  eyes  of  his  own  people  but  in  that  of  the 
white  men  too ;  he  encourages  his  sons  and  all  his  relatives  to  do 
the  same  as  he  has  done,  confident  that  their  toil  will  not  go 
unrewarded. 

Our  method  has  been  somewhat  different  from  that.  Just  as 
soon  as  a  few  of  the  more  progressive  people  begin  to  accumulate 
a  trifle  of  property,  to  raise  sheep,  to  cultivate  patches  of  soil  and 
raise  scanty  crops,  the  agent  sends  in  the  usual  glowing  report  of 
the  occurrence,  and  to  the  mind  of  the  average  man  and  woman 
in  the  East  it  looks  as  if  all  the  tribe  were  on  the  highway  to 
prosperity,  and  the  first  thing  that  Congress  does  is  to  curtail  the 
appropriations.  Next,  we  hear  of  "  disaffection,"  the  tribe  is 
reported  as  "  surly  and  threatening/'  and  we  are  told  that  the 
"  Indians  are  killing  their  cattle."  But,  whether  they  go  to  war 
or  quietly  starve  on  the  reservation  effects  no  change  in  the  sys 
tem  ;  all  supplies  are  bought  of  a  contractor  as  before,  and  the  red 
man  is  no  better  off,  or  scarcely  any  better  off,  after  twenty  years 
of  peace,  than  he  was  when  he  surrendered.  The  amount  of  beef 
contracted  for  during  the  present  year — 1891 — for  the  Apaches 
at  Camp  Apache  and  San  Carlos,  according  to  the  Southwestern 
Stockman  (Wilcox,  Arizona),  was  not  quite  two  million  pounds, 
divided  as  follows  :  eight  hundred  thousand  pounds  for  the  Indi 
ans  at  San  Carlos,  on  the  contract  of  John  H.  Norton,  and  an 
additional  five  hundred  thousand  pounds  for  the  same  people  on 


224          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

the  contract  of  the  Chiricahua  Cattle  Company ;  and  five  hun 
dred  thousand  pounds  for  the  Indians  at  Fort  Apache,  on  the 
contract  of  John  H.  Norton.  Both  of  the  above  contracting 
parties  are  known  to  me  as  reliable  and  trustworthy  ;  I  am  not 
finding  fault  with  them  for  getting  a  good,  fat  contract ;  but  I  do 
find  fault  with  a  system  which  keeps  the  Indian  a  savage,  and 
does  not  stimulate  him  to  work  for  his  own  support. 

At  one  time  an  epidemic  of  scarlet  fever  broke  out  among 
the  children  on  the  Apache  reservation,  and  numbers  were  car 
ried  off.  Indians  are  prone  to  sacrifice  property  at  the  time  of 
death  of  relations,  and,  under  the  advice  of  their  "  Medicine 
Men/'  slaughtered  altogether  nearly  two  thousand  sheep,  which 
they  had  purchased  with  their  own  money  or  which  represented 
the  increase  from  the  original  flock.  Crook  bought  from  the 
Apaches  all  the  hay  they  would  cut,  and  had  the  Quartermaster 
pay  cash  for  it  ;  every  pound  of  hay,  every  stick  of  wood,  and  no 
small  portion  of  the  corn  used  by  the  military  at  Camp  Apache 
and  San  Carlos  were  purchased  from  the  Apaches  as  individuals, 
and  not  from  contractors  or  from  tribes.  The  contractors  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  employing  the  Apaches  to  do  this  work  for 
them,  paying  a  reduced  scale  of  remuneration  and  often  in  store 
goods,  so  that  by  the  Crook  method  the  Indian  received  from 
two  to  three  times  as  much  as  under  the  former  system,  and  this 
to  the  great  advantage  of  Arizona,  because  the  Indian  belongs 
to  the  Territory  of  Arizona,  and  will  stay  there  and  buy  what 
he  needs  from  her  people,  but  the  contractor  has  gone  out  to 
make  money,  remains  until  he  accomplishes  his  object,  and  then 
returns  to  some  congenial  spot  where  his  money  will  do  most 
good  for  himself.  Of  the  contractors  who  made  money  in 
Arizona  twenty  years  ago  not  one  remained  there  :  all  went  into 
San  Francisco  or  some  other  large  city,  there  to  enjoy  their 
accumulations.  I  am  introducing  this  subject  now  because  it 
will  save  repetition,  and  will  explain  to  the  average  reader  why 
it  was  that  the  man  who  did  so  much  to  reduce  to  submission  the 
worst  tribes  this  country  has  ever  known,  and  who  thought  of 
nothing  but  the  performance  of  duty  and  the  establishment  of  a 
permanent  and  honorable  peace,  based — to  quote  his  own  lan 
guage — "  upon  an  exact  and  even-handed  justice  to  red  men  and 
to  white  alike,"  should  have  been  made  the  target  for  the  mal 
evolence  and  the  rancor  of  every  man  in  the  slightest  degree 


CROOK'S  THEORY   OF  INDIAN  TREATMENT.  225 

interested  in  the  perpetuation  of  the  contract  system  and  in 
keeping  the  aborigine  in  bondage. 

To  sum  up  in  one  paragraph,  General  Crook  believed  that  the 
Amerjcan  Indian  was  a  human  being,  gifted  with  the  same 
god-like  apprehension  as  the  white  man,  and  like  him  inspired 
by  noble  impulses,  ambition  for  progress  and  advancement,  but 
subject  to  the  same  infirmities,  beset  with  the  same  or  even 
greater  temptations,  struggling  under  the  disadvantages  of  an 
inherited  ignorance,  which  had  the  double  effect  of  making  him 
doubt  his  own  powers  in  the  struggle  for  the  new  life  and  sus 
picious  of  the  truthfulness  and  honesty  of  the  advocates  of  all 
innovations.  The  American  savage  has  grown  up  as  a  member 
of  a  tribe,  or  rather  of  a  clan  within  a  tribe  ;  all  his  actions 
have  been  made  to  conform  to  the  opinions  of  his  fellows  as 
enunciated  in  the  clan  councils  or  in  those  of  the  tribe. 

It  is  idle  to  talk  of  de-tribalizing  the  Indian  until  we  are 
ready  to  assure  him  that  fris  new  life  is  the  better  one.  By  the 
Crook  method  of  dealing  with  the  savage  he  was,  at  the  outset, 
de-tribalized  without  knowing  it ;  he  was  individualized  and 
made  the  better  able  to  enter  into  the  civilization  of  the  Cau 
casian,  which  is  an  individualized  civilization.  As  a  scout,  the 
Apache  was  enlisted  as  an  individual ;  he  was  made  responsible 
individually  for  all  that  he  did  or  did  not.  He  was  paid  as  an 
individual.  If  he  cut  grass,  he,  and  not  his  tribe  or  clan,  got 
the  money  ;  if  he  split  fuel,  the  same  rule  obtained  ;  and  so 
with  every  grain  of  corn  or  barley  which  he  planted.  If  he  did 
wrong,  he  was  hunted  down  as  an  individual  until  the  scouts  got 
him  and  put  him  in  the  guard-house.  If  his  friends  did  wrong, 
the  troops  did  not  rush  down  upon  .him  and  his  family  and 
chastise  them  for  the  wrongs  of  others  ;  he  was  asked  to  aid  in 
the  work  of  ferreting  out  and  apprehending  the  delinquent ;  and 
after  he  had  been  brought  in  a  jury  of  the  Apaches  themselves 
deliberated  upon  the  case  and  never  failed  in  judgment,  except 
on  the  side  of  severity. 

There  were  two  cases  of  chance-medley  coming  under  my  own 
observation,  in  both  of  which  the  punishment  awarded  by  the 
Apache  juries  was  much  more  severe  than  would  have  been 
given  by  a  white  jury.  In  the  first  case,  the  man  supposed  to 
have  done  the  killing  was  sentenced  to  ten  years'  hard  labor  ;  in 
the  other,  to  three.  A  white  culprit  was  at  the  same  time  sen- 
15 


226          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

tenced  in  Tucson  for  almost  the  same  offence  to  one  year's 
confinement  in  jail.  Indians  take  to  trials  by  jury  as  natu 
rally  as  ducks  take  to  water.  Trial  by  jury  is  not  a  system  of 
civilized  people  ;  it  is  the  survival  of  the  old  trial  by  clan, 
the  rudimentary  justice  known  to  all  tribes  in  the  most  savage 
state. 

General  Crook  believed  that  the  Indian  should  be  made  self- 
supporting,  not  by  preaching  at  him  the  merits  of  labor  and  the 
grandeur  of  toiling  in  the  sun,  but  by  making  him  see  that 
every  drop  of  honest  sweat  meant  a  penny  in  his  pocket.  It 
was  idle  to  expect  that  the  Indian  should  understand  how  to 
work  intelligently  in  the  very  beginning  ;  he  represented  cen 
turies  of  one  kind  of  life,  and  the  Caucasian  the  slow  evolution  of 
centuries  under  different  conditions  and  in  directions  diametri 
cally  opposite.  The  two  races  could  not,  naturally,  understand 
each  other  perfectly,  and  therefore  to  prevent  mistakes  and  the 
doing  of  very  grievous  injustice  to  the  inferior,  it  was  the  duty 
and  to  the  interest  of  the  superior  race  to  examine  into  and 
understand  the  mental  workings  of  the  inferior. 

The  American  Indian,  born  free  as  the  eagle,  would  not 
tolerate  restraint,  would  not  brook  injustice  ;  therefore,  the  re 
straint  imposed  must  be  manifestly  for  his  benefit,  and  the  gov 
ernment  to  which  he  was  subjected  must  be  eminently  one  of 
kindness,  mercy,  and  absolute  justice,  without  necessarily  degen 
erating  into  weakness.  .  The  American  Indian  despises  a  liar. 
The  American  Indian  is  the  most  generous  of  mortals  :  at  all  his 
dances  and  feasts  the  widow  and  the  orphan  are  the  first  to  be 
remembered.  Therefore,  when  he  meets  with  an  agent  who  is  "  on 
the  make,"  that  agent's  influence  goes  below  zero  at  once ;  and 
when  he  enters  the  trader's  store  and  finds  that  he  is  charged 
three  dollars  and  a  half  for  a  miserable  wool  hat,  which,  during 
his  last  trip  to  Washington,  Albuquerque,  Omaha,  or  Santa  Fe, 
as  the  case  may  be,  he  has  seen  offered  for  a  quarter,  he  feels 
that  there  is  something  wrong,  and  he  does  not  like  it  any  too 
well.  For  that  reason  Crook  believed  that  the  Indians  should 
be  encouraged  to  do  their  own  trading  and  to  set  up  their  own 
stores.  He  was  not  shaken  in  this  conviction  when  he  found 
agents  interested  in  the  stores  on  the  reservations,  a  fact  well 
understood  by  the  Apaches  as  well  as  by  himself.  It  was  a  very 
touching  matter  at  the  San  Carlos,  a  few  years  ago,  to  see  the 


CROOK'S  BELIEF  IN  INDIAN  EDUCATION. 

then  agent  counting  the  proceeds  of  the  weekly  sales  made  by  his 
son-in-law — the  Indian  trader. 

At  the  date  of  the  reduction  of  the  Apaches,  the  success  of  the 
Government  schools  was  not  clearly  established,  so  that  the  sub 
ject  of  Indian  instruction  was  not  then  discussed  except  theoret 
ically.  General  Crook  was  always  a  firm  believer  in  the  education 
of  the  American  Indian  ;  not  in  the  education  of  a  handful  of 
boys  and  girls  sent  to  remote  localities,  and  there  inoculated  with 
new  ideas  and  deprived  of  the  old  ones  upon  which  they  would 
have  to  depend  for  getting  a  livelihood ;  but  in  the  education 
of  the  younger  generation  as  a  generation.  Had  the  people  of 
the  United  States  taken  the  young  generation  of  Sioux  and 
Cheyennes  in  1866,  and  educated  them  in  accordance  with  the 
terms  of  the  treaty,  there  would  not  have  been  any  trouble  since. 
The  children  should  not  be  torn  away  from  the  parents  to  whom 
they  are  a  joy  and  a  consolation,  just  as  truly  as  they  are  to 
white  parents ;  they  should  be  educated  within  the  limits  of  the 
reservation  so  that  the  old  folks  from  time  to  time  could  get  to 
see  them  and  note  their  progress.  As  they  advanced  in  years, 
the  better  qualified  could  be  sent  on  to  Carlisle  and  Hampton, 
and  places  of  that  grade.  The  training  of  the  Indian  boy  or 
girl  should  be  largely  industrial,  but  as  much  as  possible  in  the 
line  of  previous  acquirement  and  future  application.  Thus,  the 
Navajos,  who  have  made  such  advances  as  weavers  and  knitters, 
might  well  be  instructed  in  that  line  of  progress,  as  might  the 
Zunis,  Moquis,  and  other  Pueblos. 

After  the  Indian  had  returned  to  his  reservation,  it  was  the 
duty  of  the  Government  to  provide  him  with  work  in  his  trade, 
whatever  it  might  be,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  agency  hanger-on. 
Why  should  boys  be  trained  as  carpenters  and  painters,  and  then 
see  such  work  done  by  white  men  at  the  agency,  while  they  were 
forced  to  remain  idle  ?  This  complaint  was  made  by  one  of  the 
boys  at  San  Carlos.  Why  should  Apache,  Sioux,  or  Cheyenne 
children  who  have  exerted  themselves  to  learn  our  language, 
be  left  unemployed,  while  the  work  of  interpretation  is  done,  and 
never  done  any  too  well,  at  the  agencies  by  white  men  ?  Does  it 
not  seem  a  matter  of  justice  and  common  sense  to  fill  all  such 
positions,  as  fast  as  the  same  can  be  done  without  injustice  to 
faithful  incumbents  under  the  present  system,  by  young  men 
trained  in  our  ideas  and  affiliated  to  our  ways  ?  Let  all  watchmen 


228  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

and  guardians  of  public  stores — all  the  policemen  on  the  reserves 
— be  natives  ;  let  all  hauling  of  supplies  be  done  by  the  Indians 
themselves,  and  let  them  be  paid  the  full  contract  rate  if  they 
are  able  to  haul  no  more  than  a  portion  of  the  supplies  intended 
for  their  use. 

Some  of  these  ideas  have  already  been  adopted,  in  part,  by  the 
Indian  Bureau,  and  with  such  success  that  there  is  more  than 
a  reasonable  expectancy  that  the  full  series  might  be  considered 
and  adopted  with  the  best  results.  Instruct  the  young  women 
in  the  rudiments  of  housekeeping,  as  already  outlined.  Provide 
the  reservations  with  saw-mills  and  grist-mills,  and  let  the  Indi 
ans  saw  their  own  planks  and  grind  their  own  meal  and  flour. 
This  plan  has  been  urged  by  the  Apaches  so  persistently  during 
recent  years  that  it  would  seem  not  unreasonable  to  make  the 
experiment  on  some  of  the  reservations.  Encourage  them  to 
raise  chickens  and  to  sell  eggs  ;  it  is  an  industry  for  which  they 
are  well  fitted,  and  the  profits  though  small  would  still  be  profits, 
and  one  drop  more  in  the  rivulet  of  gain  to  wean  them  from 
idleness,  ignorance,  and  the  war-path.  Let  any  man  who  desires 
to  leave  his  reservation  and  hunt  for  work,  do  so  ;  give  him  a 
pass  ;  if  he  abuses  the  privilege  by  getting  drunk  or  begging,  do 
not  give  him  another.  I  have  known  many  Indians  who  have 
worked  away  from  their  own  people  and  "always  with  the  most 
decided  benefit.  They  did  not  always  return,  but  when  they 
did  they  did  not  believe  in  the  prophecies  of  the  ((  Medicine 
Men,"  or  listen  to  the  boasts  of  those  who  still  long  for  the  war 
path. 

The  notion  that  the  American  Indian  will  not  work  is  a  falla 
cious  one  ;  he  will  work  just  as  the  white  man  will — when  it  is 
to  his  advantage  to  do  so.  The  adobes  in  the  military  post  of 
Fort  Wingate,  New  Mexico,  were  all  made  by  Navajo  Indians, 
the  brothers  of  the  Apaches.  The  same  tribe  did  no  small 
amount  of  work  on  the  grading  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Rail 
road  where  it  passes  across  their  country.  The  American  Indian 
is  a  slave  to  drink  where  he  can  get  it,  and  he  is  rarely  without  a 
supply  from  white  sources  ;  he  is  a  slave  to  the  passion  of  gaming  ; 
and  he  is  a  slave  to  his  superstitions,  which  make  the  "Medi 
cine  Men  "  the  power  they  are  in  tribal  affairs  as  well  as  in  those 
relating  more  strictly  to  the  clan  and  family.  These  are  the  three 
stumbling-blocks  in  the  pathway  of  the  Indian's  advancement; 


THE  INDIAN'S  THREE  STUMBLING-BLOCKS. 

how  to  remove  them  is  a  most  serious  problem.  The  Indian  is 
not  the  only  one  in  our  country  who  stumbles  from  the  same 
cause  ;  we  must  learn  to  be  patient  with  him,  but  merciless 
toward  all  malefactors  caught  selling  intoxicating  liquors  to  red 
men  living  in  the  tribal  relation.  Gambling  and  superstition 
will  be  eradicated  in  time  by  the  same  modifying  influences 
which  have  wrought  changes  among  the  Caucasian  nations  ; 
education  will  afford  additional  modes  of  killing  time,  and  be 
the  means  of  exposing  the  puerility  of  the  pretensions  of  the 
prophets. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

THE  CLOSING  DAYS  OF  CROOK'S  FIRST  TOUR  IX  ARIZONA — VISIT 
TO  THE  MOQUI  VILLAGES — THE  PAINTED  DESERT — THE 
PETRIFIED  FORESTS — THE  GRAND  CANON — THE  CATARACT 
CANON — BUILDING  THE  TELEGRAPH  LINE — THE  APACHES 
USING  THE  TELEGRAPH  LINE — MAPPING  ARIZONA — AN 
HONEST  INDIAN  AGENT — THE  CHIRICAHUA  APACHE  CHIEF, 
COCHEIS — THE  "  HANGING  "  IN  TUCSON — A  FRONTIER  DAN 
IEL— CROOK'S  DEPARTURE  FROM  ARIZONA — DEATH  VALLEY — 
THE  FAIRY  LAND  OF  LOS  ANGELES — ARRIVAL  AT  OMAHA. 

IN  the  fall  and  winter  of  1874,  General  Crook  made  a  final 
tour  of  examination  of  his  department  and  the  Indian  tribes 
therein.  He  found  a  most  satisfactory  condition  of  affairs  on 
the  Apache  reservation,  with  the  Indians  working  and  in  the 
best  of  spirits.  On  this  trip  he  included  the  villages  of  the 
Moquis  living  in  houses  of  rock  on  perpendicular  mesas  of  sand 
stone,  surrounded  by  dunes  or  "medanos "  of  sand,  on  the 
northern  side  of  the  Colorado  Chiquito.  The  Apaches  who  had 
come  in  from  the  war-path  had  admitted  that  a  great  part  of 
the  arms  and  ammunition  coming  into  their  hands  had  been 
obtained  in  trade  with  the  Moquis,  who  in  turn  had  purchased 
from  the  Mormons  or  Utes.  Crook  passed  some  eight  or  ten 
days  among  the  Moquis  during  the  season  when  the  peaches 
were  lusciously  ripe  and  being  gathered  by  the  squaws  and  chil 
dren.  These  peach  orchards,  with  their  flocks  of  sheep  and 
goats,  are  evidences  of  the  earnest  work  among  these  Moquis 
of  the  Franciscan  friars  during  the  last  years  of  the  sixteenth 
and  the  earlier  ones  of  the  seventeenth  centuries.  Crook  let 
the  Moquis  know  that  he  did  not  intend  to  punish  them  for 
what  might  have  been  the  fault  of  their  ignorance,  but  he 
wished  to  impress  upon  them  that  in  future  they  must  in  no 
manner  aid  or  abet  tribes  in  hostility  to  the  Government  of  the 
United  States.  This  advice  the  chiefs  accepted  in  very  good 


THE  WONDERFUL  MOQTJI  COUNTRY.  231 

part,  and  I  do  not  believe  that  they  have  since  been  guilty  of  any 
misdemeanor  of  the  same  nature. 

Of  this  trip  among  the  Moquis,  and  of  the  Moquis  themselves, 
volumes  might  be  written.  There  is  no  tribe  of  aborigines  on 
the  face  of  the  earth,  there  is  no  region  in  the  world,  better  de 
serving  of  examination  and  description  than  the  Moquis  and  the 
country  they  inhabit.  It  is  unaccountable  to  me  that  so  many 
of  our  own  countrymen  seem  desirous  of  taking  a  flying  trip  to 
Europe  when  at  their  feet,  as  it  were,  lies  a  land  as  full  of  won 
ders  as  any  depicted  in  the  fairy  tales  of  childhood.  Here,  at 
the  village  of  Hualpi,  on  the  middle  mesa,  is  where  I  saw  the 
repulsive  rite  of  the  Snake  Dance,  in  which  the  chief  "  Medicine 
Men"  prance  about  among  women  and  children,  holding  live 
and  venomous  rattlesnakes  in  their  mouths.  Here,  one  sees  the 
"  Painted  Desert,"  with  its  fantastic  coloring  of  all  varieties  of 
marls  and  ochreous  earths,  equalling  the  tints  so  lavishly  scat 
tered  about  in  the  Canon  of  the  Yellowstone.  Here,  one  begins 
his  journey  through  the  petrified  forests,  wherein  are  to  be  seen 
the  trunks  of  giant  trees,  over  one  hundred  feet  long,  turned 
into  precious  jasper,  carnelian,  and  banded  agate.  Here,  one  is 
within  stone's  throw  of  the  Grand  Gallon  of  the  Colorado  and 
the  equally  deep  lateral  canons  of  the  Cataract  and  the  Colorado 
Chiquito,  on  whose  edge  he  may  stand  in  perfect  security  and 
gaze  upon  the  rushing  torrent  of  the  mighty  Colorado,  over  a 
mile  beneath.  Here  is  the  great  Cohonino  Forest,  through 
which  one  may  ride  for  five  days  without  finding  a  drop  of 
water  except  during  the  rainy  season.  Truly,  it  is  a  wonder 
land,  and  in  the  Grand  Caflon  one  can  think  of  nothing  but  the 
Abomination  of  Desolation. 

There  is  a  trail  descending  the  Cataract  Caflon  so  narrow  and 
dangerous  that  pack  trains  rarely  get  to  the  bottom  without 
accidents.  When  I  went  down  there  with  General  Crook,  we 
could  hear  the  tinkling  of  the  pack-train  bell  far  up  in  the 
cliffs  above  us,  while  the  mules  looked  like  mice,  then  like 
rats,  then  like  jack-rabbits,  and  finally  like  dogs  in  size.  One 
of  our  mules  was  pushed  off  the  trail  by  another  mule  crowd 
ing  up  against  it,  and  was  hurled  over  the  precipice  and  dashed 
into  a  pulp  on  the  rocks  a  thousand  feet  below.  There  is 
no  place  in  the  world  at  present  so  accessible,  and  at  the  same 
time  so  full  of  the  most  romantic  interest,  as  are  the  territories 


232          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

of  Arizona  and  New  Mexico  :  the  railroad  companies  have  been 
derelict  in  presenting  their  attractions  to  the  travelling  public, 
else  I  am  sure  that  numbers  of  tourists  would  long  since  have 
made  explorations  and  written  narratives  of  the  wonders  to  be 
seen. 

General  Crook  did  not  limit  his  attentions  to  the  improvement 
of  the  Indians  alone.  There  was  a  wide  field  of  usefulness  open 
to  him  in  other  directions,  and  he  occupied  it  and  made  it  his 
own.  He  broke  up  every  one  of  the  old  sickly  posts,  which  had 
been  hotbeds  of  fever  and  pestilence,  and  transferred  the  garri 
sons  to  elevated  situations  like  Camp  Grant,  whose  beautiful 
situation  has  been  alluded  to  in  a  previous  chapter.  He  con 
nected  every  post  in  the  department  with  every  other  post  by 
first-class  roads  over  which  wagons  and  ambulances  of  all  kinds 
could  journey  without  being  dashed  to  pieces.  In  several  cases, 
roads  were  already  in  existence,  but  he  devoted  so  much  care  to 
reducing  the  length  and  to  perfecting  the  carriage-way  that  they 
became  entirely  new  pathways,  as  in  the  case  of  the  new  road 
between  Camps  Whipple  and  Verde.  The  quarters  occupied  by 
officers  and  men  were  made  habitable  by  repairs  or  replaced  by 
new  and  convenient  houses.  The  best  possible  attention  was 
given  to  the  important  matter  of  providing  good,  pure,  cool 
water  at  every  camp.  The  military  telegraph  line  was  built  from 
San  Diego,  California,  to  Fort  Yuma,  California,  thence  to 
Maricopa  Wells,  Arizona,  where  it  bifurcated,  one  line  going  on 
to  Prescott  and  Fort  Whipple,  the  other  continuing  eastward  to 
Tucson,  and  thence  to  San  Carlos  and  Camp  Apache,  or  rather  to 
the  crossing  of  the  Gila  Eiver,  fifteen  miles  from  San  Carlos. 

For  this  work,  the  most  important  ever  undertaken  in  Arizona 
up  to  that  time,  Congress  appropriated  something  like  the  sum 
of  fifty-seven  thousand  dollars,  upon  motion  of  Hon.  Richard  0. 
McCormick,  then  Delegate  ;  the  work  of  construction  was  super 
intended  by  General  James  J.  Dana,  Chief  Quartermaster  of  the 
Department  of  Arizona,  who  managed  the  matter  with  such  care 
and  economy  that  the  cost  was  some  ten  or  eleven  thousand  dol 
lars  less  than  the  appropriation.  The  citizens  of  Arizona  living 
nearest  the  line  supplied  all  the  poles  required  at  the  lowest 
possible  charge.  When  it  is  understood  that  the  total  length  of 
wire  stretched  was  over  seven  hundred  miles,  the  price  paid  (less 
than  forty-seven  thousand  dollars)  will  show  that  there  was  very 


THE  MILITARY  TELEGRAPH  LINE.  333 

little  room  for  excessive  profit  for  anybody  in  a  country  where 
all  transportation  was  by  wagon  or  on  the  backs  of  mules  across 
burning  deserts  and  over  lofty  mountains.  The  great  task  of 
building  this  line  was  carried  out  successfully  by  Major  George 
F.  Price,  Fifth  Cavalry,  since  dead,  and  by  Lieutenant  John  F. 
Trout,  Twenty-third  Infantry. 

One  of  the  first  messages  transmitted  over  the  wire  from  Pres- 
cott  to  Camp  Apache  was  sent  by  an  Apache  Indian,  to  apprise 
his  family  that  he  and  the  rest  of  the  detachment  with  him  would 
reach  home  on  a  certain  day.  To  use  a  Hibernicism,  the  wire  to 
Apache  did  not  go  to  Apache,  but  stopped  at  Grant,  at  the  time 
of  which  I  am  writing.  General  Crook  sent  a  message  to  the 
commanding  officer  at  Camp  Grant,  directing  him  to  use  every 
endeavor  to  have  the  message  sent  by  the  Apache  reach  its  des 
tination,  carrying  it  with  the  official  dispatches  forwarded  by 
courier  to  Camp  Apache.  The  family  and  friends  of  the  scout 
were  surprised  and  bewildered  at  receiving  a  communication  sent 
over  the  white  man's  talking  wire  (Pesh-bi-yalti),  of  which  they 
had  lately  been  hearing  so  much  ;  but  on  the  day  appointed  they 
all  put  on  their  thickest  coats  of  face  paint,  and  donned  their  best 
bibs  and  tuckers,  and  sallied  out  on  foot  and  horseback  to  meet 
the  incoming  party,  who  were  soon  descried  descending  the  flank 
of  an  adjacent  steep  mountain.  That  was  a  great  day  for  Arizona ; 
it  impressed  upon  the  minds  of  the  savages  the  fact  that  the 
white  man's  arts  were  superior  to  those  which  their  own  "  Medi 
cine  Men  "  pretended  to  possess,  and  made  them  see  that  it  would 
be  a  good  thing  for  their  own  interests  to  remain  our  friends. 

The  Apaches  made  frequent  use  of  the  wire.  A  most  amusing 
thing  occurred  at  Crook's  headquarters,  when  the  Apache  chief 
' '  Pitone,"  who  had  just  come  up  from  a  mission  of  peace  to 
the  Yumas,  on  the  Colorado,  and  who  had  a  grievance  against 
"  Pascual,"  the  chief  of  the  latter  tribe,  had  the  operator,  Mr. 
Strauchon,  inform  "Pascual"  that  if  he  did  not  do  a  certain 
thing  which  he  had  promised  to  do,  the  Apaches  would  go  on  the 
war-path,  and  fairly  wipe  the  ground  with  the  Yumas.  There 
couldn't  have  been  a  quainter  antithesis  of  the  elements  of  sav 
agery  and  enlightenment  than  the  presence  of  that  chief  in  the 
telegraph  office  on  such  a  mission.  The  Apaches  learned  after  a 
while  how  to  stop  the  communication  by  telegraph,  which  they 
did  very  adroitly  by  pulling  down  the  wire,  cutting  it  in  two,  and 


234          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

tying  the  ends  together  with  a  rubber  band,  completely  breaking 
the  circuit.  The  linemen  would  have  to  keep  their  eyes  open  to 
detect  just  where  such  breaks  existed. 

General  Crook  held  that  it  was  the  height  of  folly  for  the  troops 
of  the  United  States  to  attempt  to  carry  on  an  offensive  campaign 
against  an  enemy  whose  habits  and  usages  were  a  mystery  to  them, 
and  whose  territory  was  a  sealed  book.  Therefore,  he  directed 
that  each  scouting  party  should  map  out  its  own  trail,  and  send 
the  result  on  to  the  headquarters,  to  be  incorporated  in  the  gen 
eral  map  of  the  territory  which  was  to  be  made  by  the  engineer 
officers  in  San  Francisco.  Arizona  was  previously  unknown,  and 
much  of  its  area  had  never  been  mapped.  He  encouraged  his 
officers  by  every  means  in  his  power  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of 
the  rites  and  ceremonies,  the  ideas  and  feelings,  of  the  Indians 
under  their  charge ;  he  believed,  as  did  the  late  General  P.  H. 
Sheridan,  that  the  greater  part  of  our  troubles  with  the  aborigi 
nes  arose  from  our  ignorance  of  their  character  and  wants,  their 
aspirations,  doubts,  and  fears.  It  was  much  easier  and  very  much 
cheaper  to  stifle  and  prevent  an  outbreak  than  it  was  to  suppress 
one  which  had  gained  complete  headway.  These  opinions  would 
not  be  worthy  of  note  had  not  Crook  and  his  friend  and  superior, 
Sheridan,  been  officers  of  the  American  army ;  the  English — in 
Canada,  in  New  Zealand,  in  Australia,  in  India — have  found  out 
the  truth  of  this  statement ;  the  French  have  been  led  to  perceive 
it  in  their  relations  with  the  nomadic  tribes  of  Algeria  ;  and  the 
Spaniards,  to  a  less  extent  perhaps,  have  practised  the  same  thing 
in  America.  But  to  Americans  generally,  the  aborigine  is  a 
nonentity  except  when  he  is  upon  the  war-path.  The  moment  he 
concludes  to  live  at  peace  with  the  whites,  that  moment  all  his 
troubles  begin.  Never  was  there  a  truer  remark  than  that  made 
by  Crook:  "The  American  Indian  commands  respect  for  his 
rights  only  so  long  as  he  inspires  terror  for  his  rifle."  Finally 
Crook  was  anxious  to  obtain  for  Arizona,  and  set  out  in  the 
different  military  posts,  such  fruits  and  vines  as  might  be  best 
adapted  to  the  climate.  This  project  was  never  carried  out, 
as  the  orders  transferring  the  General  to  another  department 
arrived,  and  prevented,  but  it  is  worth  while  to  know  that  sev 
eral  of  the  springs  in  northern  Arizona  were  planted  with  water 
cress  by  Mrs.  Crook,  the  General's  wife,  who  had  followed  him 
to  Arizona,  and  remained  there  until  his  transfer  to  another  field. 


"COCHEIS"  OF  THE  CHIR1CAHUAS.  235 

Only  two  clouds,,  neither  bigger  than  a  man's  hand,  but  each 
fraught  with  mischief  to  the  territory  and  the  whole  country, 
appeared  above  Arizona's  horizon — the  Indian  ring  and  the 
Chiricahuas.  The  Indian  ring  was  getting  in  its  work,  and  had 
already  been  remarkably  successful  in  some  of  its  manipula 
tions  of  contracts.  The  Indian  Agent,  Dr.  Williams,  in  charge 
of  the  Apache-Yumas  and  Apache-Mojaves,  had  refused  to  re 
ceive  certain  sugar  on  account  of  the  presence  of  great  boulders  in 
each  sack.  Peremptory  orders  for  the  immediate  receipt  of  the 
sugar  were  received  in  due  time  from  Washington.  Williams 
placed  one  of  these  immense  lumps  of  stone  on  a  table  in  his 
office,  labelled  <e  Sample  of  sugar  received  at  this  agency  under 

contract  of ."  Williams  was  a  very  honest,  high-minded 

gentleman,  and  deserved  something  better  than  to  be  hounded 
into  an  insane  asylum,  which  fate  he  suffered.  I  will  concede,  to 
save  argument,  that  an  official  who  really  desires  to  fcreat  Indians 
fairly  and  honestly  must  be  out  of  his  head,  but  this  form  of 
lunacy  is  harmless,  and  does  not  call  for  such  rigorous  measures. 

The  case  of  the  Chiricahua  Apaches  was  a  peculiar  one  :  they 
had  been  specially  exempted  from  General  Crook's  jurisdiction, 
and  in  his  plans  for  the  reduction  of  the  other  bands  in  hostility 
they  had  not  been  considered.  General  0.  0.  Howard  had  gone 
out  on  a  special  mission  to  see  the  great  chief  "  Cocheis,"  and, 
at  great  personal  discomfort  and  no  little  personal  risk,  had 
effected  his  purpose.  They  were  congregated  at  the  "  Strong 
hold/'  in  the  Dragoon  Mountains,  at  the  same  spot  where  they  had 
had  a  fight  with  Gerald  Russell  a  few  months  previously.  Their 
chief,  "  Oocheis,"  was  no  doubt  sincere  in  his  determination  to 
leave  the  war-path  for  good,  and  to  eat  the  bread  of  peace. 
Such,  at  least,  was  the  opinion  I  formed  when  I  went  in  to  see 
him,  as  a  member  of  Major  Brown's  party,  in  the  month  of  Feb 
ruary,  1873. 

"  Cocheis  "  was  a  tall,  stately,  finely  built  Indian,  who  seemed 
to  be  rather  past  middle  life,  but  still  full  of  power  and  vigor, 
both  physical  and  mental.  He  received  us  urbanely,  and  showed 
us  every  attention  possible.  I  remember,  and  it  shows  what  a 
deep  impression  trivial  circumstances  will  sometimes  make,  that 
his  right  hand  was  badly  burned  in  two  circular  holes,  and  that 
he  explained  to  me  that  they  had  been  made  by  his  younger  wife, 
who  was  jealous  of  the  older  and  had  bitten  him,  and  that  the 


236          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

wounds  had  been  burned  out  with  a  kind  of  "moxa  "  with  which 
the  savages  of  this  continent  are  familiar.  Trouble  arose  on 
account  of  this  treaty  from  a  combination  of  causes  of  no  conse 
quence  when  taken  singly,  but  of  great  importance  in  the  aggre 
gate.  The  separation  of  the  tribe  into  two  sections,  and  giving 
one  kind  of  treatment  to  one  and  another  to  another,  had  a  very 
bad  effect  :  some  of  the  Chiricahuas  called  their  brethren  at  the 
San  Carlos  "  squaws/'  because  they  had  to  work  ;  on  their  side, 
a  great  many  of  the  Apaches  at  the  San  Carlos  and  Camp  Apache, 
feeling  that  the  Chiricahuas  deserved  a  whipping  fully  as  much 
as  they  did,  were  extremely  rancorous  towards  them,  and  never 
tired  of  inventing  stories  to  the  disparagement  of  their  rivals  or 
an  exaggeration  of  what  was  truth.  There  were  no  troops  sta 
tioned  on  the  Chiricahua  reservation  to  keep  the  unruly  young 
bucks  in  order,  or  protect  the  honest  and  well-meaning  savages 
from  the  rapacity  of  the  white  vultures  who  flocked  around  them, 
selling  vile  whiskey  in  open  day.  All  the  troubles  of  the  Chirica 
huas  can  be  traced  to  this  sale  of  intoxicating  fluids  to  them  by 
worthless  white  men. 

Complaints  came  up  without  cease  from  the  people  of  Sonora, 
of  raids  alleged  to  have  been  made  upon  their  exposed  hamlets 
nearest  the  Sierra  Madre  ;  Governor  Pesquiera  and  General  Crook 
were  in  correspondence  upon  this  subject,  but  nothing  could  be 
done  by  the  latter  because  the  Chiricahuas  were  not  under  his 
jurisdiction.  How  much  of  this  raiding  was  fairly  attributable 
to  the  Chiricahuas  who  had  come  in  upon  the  reservation  assigned 
them  in  the  Dragoon  Mountains,  and  how  much  was  chargeable 
to  the  account  of  small  parties  which  still  clung  to  the  old  fast 
nesses  in  the  main  range  of  the  Sierra  Madre  will  never  be 
known ;  but  the  fact  that  the  Chiricahuas  were  not  under  mili 
tary  surveillance  while  all  the  other  bands  were,  gave  point  to 
the  insinuations  and  emphasis  to  the  stories  circulated  to  their 
disparagement. 

Shortly  after  the  Apaches  had  been  put  upon  the  various  reser 
vations  assigned  them,  it  occurred  to  the  people  of  Tucson  that 
they  were  spending  a  great  deal  of  money  for  the  trials,  re-trials, 
and  maintenance  of  murderers  who  killed  whom  they  pleased, 
passed  their  days  pleasantly  enough  in  jail,  were  defended  by 
shrewd  "Jack  lawyers,"  as  they  were  called,  and  under  one  pre- 


SALUTARY  LYNCHING  IN  TUCSON.  237 

text  or  another  escaped  scot  free.  There  had  never  been  a  judi 
cial  execution  in  the  territory,  and,  under  the  technicalities  of 
law,  there  did  not  appear  much  chance  of  any  being  recorded  for 
at  least  a  generation.  It  needed  no  argument  to  make  plain  to  the 
dullest  comprehension  that  that  sort  of  thing  would  do  good  to  no 
one ;  that  it  would  end  in  perpetuating  a  bad  name  for  the  town  ; 
and  destroy  all  hope  of  its  becoming  prosperous  and  populous 
with  the  advent  of  the  railroads  of  which  mention  was  now  fre 
quently  made.  The  more  the  matter  was  talked  over,  the  more 
did  it  seem  that  something  must  be  done  to  free  Tucson  from  the 
stigma  of  being  the  refuge  of  murderers  of  every  degree. 

One  of  the  best  citizens  of  the  place,  a  Mexican  gentleman 
named  Fernandez,  I  think,  who  kept  a  monte  pio,  or  pawn 
broker's  shop,  in  the  centre  of  the  town  not  a  block  from  the 
post-office,  was  found  dead  in  his  bed  one  morning,  and  along 
side  of  him  his  wife  and  baby,  all  three  with  skulls  crushed  by 
the  blow  of  bludgeons  or  some  heavy  instrument.  All  persons — 
Mexicans  and  Americans — joined  in  the  hunt  for  the  assassins, 
who  were  at  last  run  to  the  ground,  and  proved  to  be  three  Mex 
icans,  members  of  a  gang  of  bandits  who  had  terrorized  the 
northern  portions  of  Sonora  for  many  years.  They  were  tracked 
by  a  most  curious  chain  of  circumstances,  the  clue  being  given 
by  a  very  intelligent  Mexican,  and  after  being  run  down  one  of 
their  number  confessed  the  whole  affair,  and  showed  where  the 
stolen  jewellery  had  been  buried  under  a  mesquite  bush,  in  plain 
sight  of,  and  close  to,  the  house  of  the  Governor.  I  have  already 
written  a  description  of  this  incident,  and  do  not  care  to  repro 
duce  it  here,  on  account  of  lack  of  space,  but  may  say  that  the 
determination  to  lynch  them  was  at  once  formed  and  carried  into 
effect,  under  the  superintendence  of  the  most  prominent  citizens, 
on  the  "  Plaza  "  in  front  of  the  cathedral.  There  was  another 
murderer  confined  in  the  jail  for  killing  a  Mexican  "  to  see  him 
wriggle."  This  wretch,  an  American  tramp,  was  led  out  to  his 
death  along  with  the  others,  and  in  less  than  ten  minutes  four 
human  forms  were  writhing  on  the  hastily  constructed  gallows. 
Whatever  censure  might  be  levelled  against  this  high-handed 
proceeding  on  the  score  of  illegality  was  rebutted  by  the  citizens 
on  the  ground  of  necessity  and  the  evident  improvement  of  the 
public  morals  which  followed,  apparently  as  a  sequence  of  these 
drastic  methods. 


238          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Greater  authority  was  conferred  upon  the  worthy  Teutonic 
apothecary  who  had  been  acting  as  probate  judge,  or  rather  much 
of  the  authority  which  he  had  been  exercising  was  confirmed, 
and  the  day  of  evil-doers  began  to  be  a  hard  and  dismal  one. 
The  old  judge  was  ordinarily  a  pharmacist,  and  did  not  pretend 
to  know  anything  of  law,  but  his  character  for  probity  and  hon 
esty  was  so  well  established  that  the  people,  who  were  tired  of 
lawyers,  voted  to  put  in  place  a  man  who  would  deal  out  justice, 
regardless  of  personal  consequences.  The  blind  goddess  had  no 
worthier  representative  than  this  frontier  Hippocrates,  in  whose 
august  presence  the  most  hardened  delinquents  trembled.  Black- 
stone  and  Coke  and  Littleton  and  Kent  were  not  often  quoted  in 
the  dingy  halls  of  justice  where  the  "  Jedge  "  sat,  flanked  and 
backed  by  shelves  of  bottles  bearing  the  cabalistic  legends,  "  Syr. 
Zarzge  Comp./'  "Tine.  Op.  Camphor/'  "Syr.  Simpl.,"and  others 
equally  inspiring,  and  faced  by  the  small  row  of  books,  frequently 
consulted  in  the  knottier  and  more  important  cases,  which  bore 
the  titles  "  Materia  Medica,"  "  Household  Medicine,"  and  others 
of  the  same  tenor.  Testimony  was  never  required  unless  it  would 
serve  to  convict,  and  then  only  a  small  quantity  was  needed,  be 
cause  the  man  who  entered  within  the  portals  of  this  abode  of 
Esculapius  and  of  Justice  left  all  hope  behind.  Every  criminal 
arraigned  before  this  tribunal  was  already  convicted ;  there  re 
mained  only  the  formality  of  passing  sentence,  and  of  determining 
just  how  many  weeks  to  affix  as  the  punishment  in  the  "  shane 
gang/'  An  adjustment  of  his  spectacles,  an  examination  of  the 
"  Materia  Medica,"  and  the  Judge  was  ready  for  business.  Point 
ing  his  long  finger  at  the  criminal,  he  would  thunder  :  "Tu  eres 
vagabundo  "  (thou  art  a  tramp),  and  then  proceed  to  sentence  the 
delinquent  on  his  face  to  the  chain-gang  for  one  week,  or  two,  or 
three,  as  the  conditions  of  his  physiognomy  demanded. 

"  Jedge,  isn't  thet  a  r-a-a-ther  tough  dose  to  give  t'  a  poor 
fellow  what  knowed  your  grandfad(Jer  ?  "  asked  one  American 
prisoner  who  had  received  an  especially  gratifying  assurance  of 
the  Judge's  opinion  of  his  moral  turpitude. 

"  Ha  !  you  knowed  my  grandfaddy ;  vere  abouts,  mine  frient, 
you  know  him  ?  "  queried  the  legal  functionary. 

"  Wai,  Jedge,  it's  jest  like  this.  Th'  las'  time  I  seed  the  ole 
gent  was  on  th'  Isthmus  o'  Panama  ;  he  war  a-swingin'  by  his  tail 
from  th'  limbs  of  a  cocoanut  tree,  a-gatherin'  o'  cocoanuts,  'n " 


BIDDING  GOOD-BYE  TO  ARIZONA.  239 

"  Dare  ;  dat  vill  do,  mine  frient,  dat  vill  do.  I  gifs  you  an- 
odder  two  viks  mit  der  shane-gang  fur  gontembt  ov  goort ;  how 
you  like  dat  ?  " 

Many  sly  jokes  were  cracked  at  the  old  judge's  expense,  and 
many  side-splitting  stories  narrated  of  his  eccentricities  and  curi 
ous  legal  interpretations ;  but  it  was  noticed  that  the  supply  of 
tramps  was  steadily  diminishing,  and  the  town  improving  in 
every  essential.  If  the  Judge  ever  made  a  mistake  on  the  side  of 
mercy  I  never  happened  to  hear  of  it,  although  I  do  not  attempt  to 
say  that  he  may  not,  at  some  time  in  his  legal  career,  have  shown 
tenderness  unrecorded.  He  certainly  did  heroic  work  for  the 
advancement  of  the  best  interests  of  Tucson  and  a  good  part  of 
southern  Arizona. 

The  orders  of  the  War  Department  transferring  General  Crook 
to  the  command  of  the  Department  of  the  Platte  arrived  in  the 
middle  of  March,  and  by  the  25th  of  that  month,  1875,  he,  with 
his  personal  staff,  had  started  for  the  new  post  of  duty.  A  ban 
quet  and  reception  were  tendered  by  the  citizens  of  Prescott  and 
northern  Arizona,  which  were  attended  by  the  best  people  of  that 
section.  The  names  of  the  Butlers,  Bashfords,  Marions,  Heads, 
Brooks,  Marks,  Bowers,  Buffums,  Hendersons,  Bigelows,  Rich 
ards,  and  others  having  charge  of  the  ceremonies,  showed  how 
thoroughly  Americanized  that  part  of  Arizona  had  become. 
Hundreds  walked  or  rode  out  to  the  "  Burnt  Ranch  "  to  say  the ' 
last  farewell,  or  listen  to  the  few  heartfelt  words  of  kindness 
with  which  General  Kautz,  the  new  commander,  wished  Crook 
godspeed  and  good  luck  in  his  new  field  of  labor.  Crook  bade 
farewell  to  the  people  for  whom  he  had  done  so  much,  and  whom 
he  always  held  so  warmly  in  his  heart ;  he  looked  for  the  last 
time,  it  might  be,  upon  the  snowy  peak  of  the  San  Francisco, 
and  then  headed  westward,  leaving  behind  him  the  Wonderland 
of  the  Southwest,  with  its  fathomless  caflons,  its  dizzy  crags,  its 
snow-mantled  sierras,  its  vast  deserts,  its  blooming  oases — its 
vast  array  of  all  the  contradictions  possible  in  topography.  The 
self -lacerating  Mexican  penitente,  and  the  self -asserting  American 
prospector,  were  to  fade  from  the  sight,  perhaps  from  the  memory ; 
but  the  acts  of  kindness  received  and  exchanged  between  man 
and  man  of  whatever  rank  and  whatever  condition  of  life  were  to 
last  until  memory  itself  should  depart. 

The  journey  from  Whipple  or  Prescott  to  Los  Angeles  was  in 


240          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

those  days  over  five  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  took  at  least 
eleven  days  under  the  most  favorable  conditions  ;  it  obliged  one 
to  pass  through  the  territory  of  the  Hualpais  and  the  Mojaves, 
to  cross  the  Colorado  River  at  the  fort  of  the  same  name,  and 
drive  across  the  extreme  southern  point  of  Nevada,  and  then  into 
California  in  the  country  of  the  Chimahuevis ;  to  drag  along 
over  the  weary  expanse  of  the  "  Soda  Lake,"  where  for  seven 
miles  the  wheels  of  the  wagons  cut  their  way  into  the  purest 
baking  soda,  and  the  eyes  grew  weak  with  gazing  out  upon  a 
snowy  area  of  dazzling  whiteness,  the  extreme  end  of  the  cele 
brated  "Death  Valley."  After  reaching  San  Bernardino,  the 
aspect  changed  completely  :  the  country  became  a  fairyland, 
filled  with  grapes  and  figs  and  oranges,  merry  with  the  music  of 
birds,  bright  with  the  bloom  of  flowers.  Lowing  herds  and  buz 
zing  bees  attested  that  this  was  indeed  a  land  of  milk  and  honey, 
beautiful  to  the  eye,  gladsome  to  every  sense.  The  railroad  had 
not  yet  reached  Los  Angeles,  so  that  to  get  to  San  Francisco, 
travellers  who  did  not  care  to  wait  for  the  weekly  steamer  were 
obliged  to  secure  seats  in  the  "  Telegraph  "  stage  line.  This 
ran  to  Bakersfield  in  the  San  Joaquin  Valley,  the  then  terminus 
of  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad,  and  through  some  of  the  coun 
try  where  the  Franciscans  had  wrought  such  wonderful  results 
among  the  savages  whom  they  had  induced  to  live  in  the 
"  Missions."  In  due  course  of  time  Crook  arrived  at  Omaha, 
Nebraska,  his  new  headquarters,  where  the  citizens  tendered  him 
a  banquet  and  reception,  as  had  those  of  the  California  metropo 
lis — San  Francisco. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  PLATTE — THE  BLACK  HILLS  DIFFI 
CULTY — THE  ALLISON  COMMISSION — CEAZY  HOESE  AND 
SITTING  BULL— THE  FIEST  WINTEE  CAMPAIGN— CLOTHING 
WORN  BY  THE  TEOOPS — THE  STAET  FOE  THE  BIG  HOEN — 
FRANK  GEUAED,  LOUIS  RICHAUD,  BIG  BAT,  LOUIS  CHAN- 
GRAU,  AND  OTHER  GUIDES. 

THE  new  command  stretched  from  the  Missouri  River  to  the 
western  shores  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  and  Included  the 
growing  State  of  Nebraska  and  the  promising  territories  of 
Wyoming,  Utah,  and  part  of  Idaho.  The  Indian  tribes  with 
which  more  or  less  trouble  was  to  be  expected  were  :  the  Bannocks 
and  Shoshones,  in  Idaho  and  western  Wyoming;  the  Utes,  in 
Utah  and  western  Wyoming ;  the  Sioux,  Oheyennes,  and  Arapa- 
hoes,  in  Dakota  and  Nebraska  ;  the  Otoes,  Poncas,  Omahas,  Win- 
nebagoes,  and  Pawnees,  in  various  sections  of  Nebraska.  The 
last  five  bands  were  perfectly  peaceful,  and  the  only  trouble  they 
would  occasion  would  be  on  account  of  the  raids  made  upon 
them  by  the  hostiles  and  their  counter-raids  to  steal  ponies. 
The  Pawnees  had  formerly  been  the  active  and  daring  foe  of  the 
white  men,  but  were  now  disposed  to  go  out,  whenever  needed, 
to  attack  the  Sioux  or  Dakotas.  The  Utes,  Bannocks.,  and  Sho- 
shones  claimed  to  be  friendly,  as  did  the  Arapahoes,  but  the 
hostile  feelings  of  the  Oheyennes  and  Sioux  were  scarcely  con 
cealed,  and  on  several  occasions  manifested  in  no  equivocal  man 
ner.  The  Utes,  Bannocks,  and  Shoshones  were  "mountain" 
Indians,  but  were  well  supplied  with  stock  ;  they  often  made 
incursions  into  the  territory  of  the  " plains"  tribes,  their  ene 
mies,  of  whom  the  most  powerful  were  the  Sioux  and  Cheyennes, 
whose  numbers  ran  into  the  thousands. 

There  was  much  smouldering  discontent  among  the  Sioux  and 
Cheyennes,  based  upon  our  failure  to  observe  the  stipulations  of 
the  treaty  made  in  1867,  which  guaranteed  to  them  an  immense 
16 


242         ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

strip  of  country,  extending,  either  as  a  reservation  or  a  hunting 
ground,  clear  to  the  Big  Horn  Mountains.  By  that  treaty  they 
had  been  promised  one  school  for  every  thirty  children,  but  no 
schools  had  yet  been  established  under  it.  Keports  of  the  fabu 
lous  richness  of  the  gold  mines  in  the  Black  Hills  had  excited 
the  cupidity  of  the  whites  and  the  distrust  of  the  red  men.  The 
latter  knew  only  too  well,  that  the  moment  any  mineral  should  be 
found,  no  matter  of  what  character,  their  reservation  would  be  cut 
down  ;  and  they  were  resolved  to  prevent  this,  unless  a  most  liberal 
price  should  be  paid  for  the  property.  The  Sioux  had  insisted 
upon  the  abandonment  of  the  chain  of  posts  situated  along  the 
line  of  the  Big  Horn,  and  had  carried  their  point ;  but,  in  1874, 
after  the  murder  of  Lieutenant  Robertson,  or  Robinson,  of  the 
Fourteenth  Infantry,  while  in  charge  of  a  wood-chopping  party 
on  Laramie  Peak,  and  their  subsequent  refusal  to  let  their  agent 
fly  the  American  flag  over  the  agency,  General  John  E.  Smith, 
Fourteenth  Infantry,  at  the  head  of  a  strong  force,  marched  over 
to  the  White  Earth  country  and  established  what  have  since  been 
designated  as  Camps  Sheridan  and  Robinson  at  the  agencies  of 
the  great  chiefs  "  Spotted  Tail"  and  "Red  Cloud"  respectively. 
In  1874,  General  Custer  made  an  examination  of  the  Black  Hills, 
and  reported  finding  gold  "  from  the  grass  roots  down."  In  the 
winter  of  that  year  a  large  party  of  miners,  without  waiting  for 
the  consent  of  the  Indians  to  be  obtained,  settled  on  the  waters  of 
Frenchman,  or  French,  Creek,  built  a  stockade,  and  began  to  work 
with  rockers.  These  miners  were  driven  about  from  point  to 
point  by  detachments  of  troops,  hut  succeeded  in  maintaining  a 
foothold  until  the  next  year.  One  of  the  commands  sent  to  look 
them  up  and  drive  them  out  was  the  company  of  the  Third  Cavalry 
commanded  by  Brevet  Lieutenant-Colonel  Guy  V.  Henry,  which 
was  caught  in  a  blizzard  and  nearly  destroyed.  In  the  early 
months  of  1875,  a  large  expedition,  well  equipped,  was  sent  to 
explore  and  map  the  Black  Hills  and  the  adjacent  country.  The 
main  object  was  the  determination  of  the  auriferous  character  of 
the  ledges  and  the  value  of  the  country  as  a  mining  district ;  the 
duty  of  examination  into  these  features  devolved  upon  the  geolo 
gists  and  engineers  sent  out  by  the  Department  of  the  Interior, 
namely,  Messrs.  Janney,  McGillicuddy,  Newton,  Brown,  and  Tut- 
tle.  The  military  escort,  consisting  of  six  full  companies  of  the 
Second  and  Third  Cavalry,  two  pieces  of  artillery,  and  several 


DISAFFECTION  OF  THE  INDIANS.  243 

companies  of  the  Ninth  and  Fourteenth  Infantry  to  guard  supply 
trains,  was  employed  in  furnishing  the  requisite  protection  to  the 
geologists,  and  in  obtaining  such  additional  information  in  re 
gard  to  the  topography  of  the  country,  the  best  lines  for  wagon 
roads,  and  sites  for  such  posts  as  might  be  necessary  in  the  future. 
This  was  under  the  command  of  Colonel  R.  I.  Dodge,  of  the 
Twenty-third  Infantry,  and  made  a  very  complete  search  over 
the  whole  of  the  hills,  mapping  the  streams  and  the  trend  of  the 
ranges,  and  opening  up  one  of  the  most  picturesque  regions  on 
the  face  of  the  globe. 

It  was  never  a  matter  of  surprise  to  me  t*hat  the  Cheyennes, 
whose  corn-fields  were  once  upon  the  Belle  Fourche,  the  stream 
which  runs  around  the  hills  on  the  north  side,  should  have  become 
frenzied  by  the  report  that  these  lovely  valleys  were  to  be  taken 
from  them  whether  they  would  or  no.  In  the  summer  of  1876 
the  Government  sent  a  commission,  of  which  Senator  William  B. 
Allison,  of  Iowa,  was  chairman,  and  the  late  Major-General 
Alfred  H.  Terry,  a  member,  to  negotiate  with  the  Sioux  for  the 
cession  of  the  Black  Hills,  but  neither  Sioux  nor  Oheyennes  were 
in  the  humor  to  negotiate.  There  appeared  to  be  a  very  large 
element  among  the  Indians  which  would  sooner  have  war  than 
peace  ;  all  sorts  of  failures  to  observe  previous  agreements  were 
brought  up,  and  the  advocates  of  peace  were  outnumbered.  One 
day  it  looked  very  much  as  if  a  general  melee  was  about  to  be 
precipitated.  The  hostile  element,  led  by  "  Little  Big  Man/' 
shrieked  for  war,  and  f '  Little  Big  Man  "  himself  was  haranguing 
his  followers  that  that  was  as  good  a  moment  as  any  to  begin 
shooting.  The  courage  and  coolness  of  two  excellent  officers, 
Egan  and  Crawford,  the  former  of  the  Second,  the  latter  of  the 
Third  Cavalry,  kept  the  savages  from  getting  too  near  the  Com 
missioners  :  their  commands  formed  line,  and  with  carbines  at 
an  ' '  advance  "  remained  perfectly  motionless,  ready  to  charge 
in  upon  the  Indians  should  the  latter  begin  an  attack.  Egan  has 
often  told  me  that  he  was  apprehensive  lest  the  accidental  dis 
charge  of  a  carbine  or  a  rifle  on  one  side  or  the  other  should 
precipitate  a  conflict  in  which  much  blood  would  surely  be  shed. 
Egan  has  been  many  years  dead — worn  out  in  service — and  poor 
Crawford  was  killed  by  Mexican  irregular  troops  at  the  moment 
that  he  had  surprised  and  destroyed  the  village  of  the  Chiricahua 
Apache  chief  "Geronimo,"  in  the  depths  of  the  Sierra  Madre, 


244  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Mexico.  Much  of  our  trouble  with  these  tribes  could  have  been 
averted,  had  we  shown  what  would  appear  to  them  as  a  spirit 
of  justice  and  fair  dealing  in  this  negotiation.  It  is  hard  to  make 
the  average  savage  comprehend  why  it  is  that  as  soon  as  his 
reservation  is  found  to  amount  to  anything  he  must  leave  and 
give  up  to  the  white  man.  Why  should  not  Indians  be  per 
mitted  to  hold  mining  or  any  other  kind  of  land  ?  The  whites 
could  mine  on  shares  or  on  a  royalty,  and  the  Indians  would  soon 
become  workers  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth.  The  right  to  own 
and  work  mines  was  conceded  to  the  Indians  by  the  Crown  of 
Spain,  and  the  result  was  beneficial  to  both  races.  In  1551,  the 
Spanish  Crown  directed  that  "Nadie  los  impidiese  que  pudiesem 
tomar  minas  de  Oro,  i  Plata  i  benefici arias  como  hacian  los  Cas- 
tell&nos."—Herrera,  Decade,  VIII.,  Ub.  8,  cap.  12,  p.  159.  The 
policy  of  the  American  people  has  been  to  vagabondize  the 
Indian,  and  throttle  every  ambition  he  may  have  for  his  own 
elevation ;  and  we  need  not  hug  the  delusion  that  the  savage 
has  been  any  too  anxious  for  work,  unless  stimulated,  encour 
aged,  and  made  to  see  that  it  meant  his  immediate  benefit  and 
advancement. 

During  the  closing  hours  of  the  year  1875  the  miners  kept 
going  into  the  Black  Hills,  and  the  Indians  kept  annoying 
all  wagon-trains  and  small  parties  found  on  the  roads.  There 
were  some  killed  and  others  wounded  and  a  number  of  wagons 
destroyed,  but  hostilities  did  not  reach  a  dangerous  state,  and 
were  confined  almost  entirely  to  the  country  claimed  by  the  In 
dians  as  their  own.  It  was  evident,  however,  to  the  most  obtuse 
that  a  very  serious  state  of  affairs  would  develop  with  the  com 
ing  of  grass  in  the  spring.  The  Indians  were  buying  all  the 
arms,  ammunition,  knives,  and  other  munitions  of  war  from  the 
traders  and  every  one  else  who  would  sell  to  them.  On  our  side 
the  posts  were  filled  with  supplies,  garrisons  changed  to  admit 
of  the  concentration  of  the  largest  possible  numbers  on  most 
threatened  localities,  and  the  efficient  pack-trains  which  had 
rendered  so  valuable  a  service  during  the  campaign  in  Arizona 
were  brought  up  from  the  south  and  congregated  at  Cheyenne, 
.  Wyoming.  The  policy  of  the  Government  must  have  seemed  to 
the  Indians  extremely  vacillating.  During  the  summer  of  1876 
instructions  of  a  positive  character  were  sent  to  General  Crook, 
directing  the  expulsion  from  the  Black  Hills  of  all  unauthorized 


SITTING  BULL'S  REPLY.  245 

persons  there  assembled.  General  Crook  went  across  country 
to  the  stockade  erected  on  French  Creek,  Dakota,  and  there  had 
an  interview  with  the  miners,  who  promised  to  leave  the  country, 
first  having  properly  recorded  their  claims,  and  await  the  action 
of  Congress  in  regard  to  the  opening  of  that  region  to  settle 
ment.  As  winter  approached  another  tone  was  assumed  in  our 
dealings  with  the  Sioux  and  Cheyennes  :  word  was  sent  to  the 
different  bands  living  at  a  distance  from  the  agencies  that  they 
must  come  in  to  be  enrolled  or  inspected  ;  some  obeyed  the  sum 
mons,  some  quietly  disregarded  it,  and  one  band — a  small  one, 
under  "Sitting  Bull" — flatly  refused  compliance.  The  Indians 
did  not  seem  to  understand  that  any  one  had  a  right  to  control 
their  movements  so' long  as  they  remained  within  the  metes  and 
bounds  assigned  them  by  treaty. 

Neither  "Crazy  Horse  "  nor  "  Sitting  Bull  "  paid  any  atten 
tion  to  the  summons ;  and  when  early  in  the  summer  (1875) 
a  message  reached  them,  directing  them  to  come  in  to  Red 
Cloud  Agency  to  confer  with  the  Black  Hills  Commission, 
this  is  the  reply  which  Louis  Richaud,  the  half-breed  mes 
senger,  received:  "Are  you  the  Great  God  that  made  me,  or 
was  it  the  Great  God  that  made  me  who  sent  you  ?  If  He 
asks  me  to  come  see  him,  I  will  go,  but  the  Big  Chief  of  the 
white  men  must  come  see  me.  I  will  not  go  to  the  reserva 
tion.  I  have  no  land  to  sell.  There  is  plenty  of  game  here  for 
us.  We  have  enough  ammunition.  We  don't  want  any  white 
men  here."  "Sitting  Bull"  delivered  the  above  in  his  haughti 
est  manner,  but  "Crazy  Horse"  had  nothing  to  say.  "Crazy 
Horse"  was  the  general,  the  fighter;  "Sitting  Bull"  was  a 
"  Medicine  Man"  and  a  fine  talker,  and  rarely  let  pass  an  oppor 
tunity  for  saying  something.  He  was,  in  that  one  respect, 
very  much  like  old  "  Shunca  luta,"  at  Red  Cloud,  who  was 
always  on  his  feet  in  council  or  conference. 

Upon  the  recommendation  of  Inspector  Watkins  of  the  In 
dian  Bureau,  made  in  the  winter  of  1875,  the  War  Department 
was  instructed  to  take  in  hand  the  small  band  of  five  hundred 
Sioux  supposed  to  be  lurking  in  the  country  bounded  by  the  Big 
Horn  Mountains,  the  Tongue  and  the  Yellowstone  rivers.  The 
inspector  expressed  the  opinion  that  a  regiment  of  cavalry  was 
all  that  was  needed  to  make  a  quick  winter  campaign  and  strike 
a  heavy  and  decisive  blow.  This  opinion  was  not,  however, 


246          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

borne  out  by  the  facts.  The  number  of  Indians  out  in  that 
country  was  absolutely  unknown  to  our  people,  and  all  guesses  as 
to  their  strength  were  wildly  conjectural.  The  country  in  which 
the  coming  operations  were  to  be  carried  on  was  as  different 
as  different  could  be  from  the  rugged  ranges,  the  broken  mesas, 
and  the  arid  deserts  of  Arizona.  Topographically,  it  might  be 
styled  a  great  undulating  plain,  rolling  like  the  waves  of  ocean— 
a  sea  of  grass,  over  which  still  roamed  great  herds  of  buffalo, 
and  antelope  by  the  hundred.  It  is  far  better  watered  than 
either  New  Mexico  or  Arizona,  and  has  a  vegetation  of  an  entirely 
different  type.  There  is  considerable  cactus  of  the  plate  variety 
in  certain  places,  but  the  general  rule  is  that  the  face  of  nature 
is  covered  with  bunch  and  buffalo  grass,  with  a  straggling  growth 
of  timber  along  the  water  courses — cottonwood,  ash,  willow,  and 
now  and  then  a  little  oak.  On  the  summits  of  the  buttes  there 
is  pine  timber  in  some  quantity,  and  upon  the  higher  elevations 
of  the  ranges  like  the  Big  Horn  the  pine,  fir,  and  other  coniferae 
grow  very  dense  ;  but  at  the  height  of  eleven  thousand  feet  all 
timber  ceases  and  the  peaks  project  perfectly  bald  and  tower  up 
wards  toward  the  sky,  enveloped  in  clouds  and  nearly  all  the 
year  round  wrapped  in  snow.  Coal  is  to  be  found  in  wonderful 
abundance  and  of  excellent  quality,  and  it  is  now  asserted  that 
the  State  of  Wyoming  is  better  supplied  with  carbon  than  is  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania.  Coal  oil  is  also  found  in  the  Rattle 
snake  basin,  but  has  not  yet  been  made  commercially  profitable. 
Montana,  situated  to  the  north  of  Wyoming,  is  perhaps  a  trifle 
colder  in  winter,  but  both  are  cold  enough  ;  although,  strange  to 
say,  few  if  any  of  the  settlers  suffer  from  the  effects  of  the  severe 
reduction  of  temperature — at  least  few  of  those  whose  business 
does  not  compel  them  to  face  the  blizzards.  Stage-drivers,  stock 
men,  settlers  living  on  isolated  ranches,  were  the  principal  suf 
ferers.  Both  Wyoming  and  Montana  were  fortunate  in  securing 
a  fine  class  of  population  at  the  outset,  men  and  women  who 
would  stand  by  the  new  country  until  after  all  the  scapegraces, 
scoundrels,  and  cutthroats  who  had  flocked  in  with  the  advent  of 
the  railroads  had  died  off,  most  of  them  with  their  boots  on. 
The  Union  Pacific  Railroad  crossed  the  Territory  from  east  to 
west,  making  the  transportation  of  supplies  a  matter  of  compara 
tive  ease,  and  keeping  the  various  posts  within  touch  of  civiliza 
tion.  South  of  the  North  Platte  River  the  country  was  held  by 


STRENGTH  OF  THE  SIOUX.  247 

the  troops  of  the  United  States,  and  was  pretty  well  understood 
and  fairly  well  mapped ;  north  of  that  stream  was  a  terra  incog 
nita,  of  which  no  accurate  charts  existed,  and  of  which  extremely 
little  information  could  be  obtained.  Every  half-breed  at  Red 
Cloud  or  Spotted  Tail  Agency  who  could  be  secured  was  em 
ployed  as  a  scout,  and  placed  under  the  command  of  Colonel 
Thaddeus  H.  Stanton,  of  the  Pay  Department,  who  was  an 
nounced  as  Chief  of  Scouts. 

The  Sioux  and  Cheyennes  whom  we  were  soon  to  face  were 
"  horse  "  Indians,  who  marched  and  fought  on  horseback  ;  they 
kept  together  in  large  bodies,  and  attacked  by  charging  and  at 
tempting  to  stampede  the  herds  of  the  troops.  They  were  well 
armed  with  the  newest  patterns  of  magazine  arms,  and  were  re 
ported  to  be  possessed  of  an  abundance  of  metallic  cartridges. 
Their  formidable  numbers,  estimated  by  many  authorities  at  as 
many  as  fifty  thousand  for  the  entire  nation,  had  given  them  an 
overweening  confidence  in  themselves  and  a  contempt  for  the 
small  bodies  of  troops  that  could  be  thrown  out  against  them,  and 
it  was  generally  believed  by  those  pretending  to  know  that  we 
should  have  all  the  fighting  we  wanted.  These  were  the  points 
upon  which  the  pessimists  most  strongly  insisted.  The  cloud 
certainly  looked  black  enough  to  satisfy  any  one,  but  there  was 
a  silver  lining  to  it  which  was  not  perceptible  at  first  inspection. 
If  a  single  one  of  these  large  villages  could  be  surprised  and  de 
stroyed  in  the  depth  of  winter,  the  resulting  loss  of  property 
would  be  so  great  that  the  enemy  would  suffer  for  years ;  their 
exposure  to  the  bitter  cold  of  the  blizzards  would  break  down 
any  spirit,  no  matter  how  brave  ;  their  ponies  would  be  so  weak 
that  they  could  not  escape  from  an  energetic  pursuit,  and  the 
advantages  would  seem  to  be  on  the  side  of  the  troops. 

Crook  took  up  his  quarters  in  Cheyenne  for  a  few  days  to  push 
forward  the  preparations  for  the  departure  of  the  column  of 
cavalry  which  was  to  compose  the  major  part  of  the  contemplated 
expedition.  Cheyenne  was  then  wild  with  excitement  concern 
ing  the  Indian  war,  which  all  the  old  frontiersmen  felt  was  ap 
proaching,  and  the  settlement  of  the  Black  Hills,  in  which  gold 
in  unheard-of  sums  was  alleged  to  be  hidden.  No  story  was  too 
wild,  too  absurd,  to  be  swallowed  with  eagerness  and  published 
as  a  fact  in  the  papers  of  the  town.  Along  the  streets  were 
camped  long  trains  of  wagons  loading  for  the  Black  Hills  ;  every 


248          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

store  advertised  a  supply  of  goods  suited  to  the  Black  Hills' 
trade ;  the  hotels  were  crowded  with  men  on  their  way  to  the 
new  El  Dorado ;  even  the  stage-drivers,  boot-blacks,  and  bell 
boys  could  talk  nothing  but  Black  Hills — Black  Hills.  So  great 
was  the  demand  for  teams  to  haul  goods  to  the  Black  Hills  that 
it  was  difficult  to  obtain  the  necessary  number  to  carry  the  rations 
and  ammunition  needed  for  Crook's  column.  Due  north  of 
Cheyenne,  and  ninety  miles  from  it,  lay  old  Fort  Laramie,  since 
abandoned  ;  ninety-five  miles  to  the  northwest  of  Laramie  lay 
Fort  Fetterman,  the  point  of  departure  for  the  expedition.  To 
reach  Fort  Laramie  we  had  to  cross  several  small  but  useful 
streamlets — the  Lodge  Pole,  Horse,  and  Chug — which  course 
down  from  the  higher  elevations  and  are  lost  in  the  current  of 
the  North  Platte  and  Laramie  rivers. 

The  country  was  well  adapted  for  the  grazing  of  cattle,  and 
several  good  ranches  were  already  established  ;  at  "  Portuguese" 
Phillip's,  at  the  head  of  the  Chug,  and  at  F.  M.  Phillips's,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  same  picturesque  stream,  the  traveller  was  always 
sure  of  hospitable,  kind  treatment.  The  march  of  improvement 
has  caused  these  ranches  to  disappear,  and  their  owners,  for  all 
I  know  to  the  contrary,  have  been  dead  for  many  years,  but  their 
memory  will  be  cherished  by  numbers  of  belated  wayfarers,  in 
the  army  and  out  of  it,  who  were  the  recipients  of  their  kind 
attentions.  The  road  leading  out  of  Cheyenne  through  Fort 
Laramie  to  the  Black  Hills  was  thronged  with  pedestrians  and 
mounted  men,  with  wagons  and  without — all  en  route  to  the 
hills  which  their  fancy  pictured  as  stuffed  with  the  precious 
metals.  Not  all  were  intent  upon  mining  or  other  hard  work  : 
there  was  more  than  a  fair  contingent  of  gamblers  and  people  of 
that  kind,  who  relieved  Cheyenne  and  Denver  and  Omaha  of 
much  uneasiness  by  their  departure  from  those  older  cities  to 
grow  up  with  the  newer  settlements  in  the  Indian  Pactolus. 
There  were  other  roads  leading  to  the  Black  Hills  from  points  on 
the  Missouri  River,  and  from  Sidney  and  North  Platte,  Nebraska, 
but  they  offered  no  such  inducements  as  the  one  from  Cheyenne, 
because  it  crossed  the  North  Platte  River  by  a  free  Government 
bridge,  constructed  under  the  superintendence  'of  Captain  Wil 
liam  S.  Stanton,  of  the  Corps  of  Engineers.  By  taking  this  route 
all  dangers  and  delays  by  ferry  were  eliminated. 

Much  might  be  written  about  old  Fort  Laramie.     It  would 


FORTS   LARAMIE   AND   FETTERMAN.  349 

require  a  volume  of  itself  to  describe  all  that  could  be  learned 
regarding  it  from  the  days  when  the  hardy  French  traders  from 
Saint  Louis,  under  Jules  La  Ramie,  began  trading  with  the  Sioux 
and  Cheyennes  and  Arapahoes,  until  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  determined  to  establish  one  of  its  most  important 
garrisons  to  protect  the  overland  travel  to  the  gold-fields  of  Cali 
fornia.  Many  an  old  and  decrepit  officer,  now  on  the  retired 
list,  will  revert  in  fancy  to  the  days  when  he  was  young  and 
athletic,  and  Fort  Laramie  was  the  centre  of  all  the  business,  and 
fashion,  and  gossip,  and  mentality  of  the  North  Platte  country  ; 
the  cynic  may  say  that  there  wasn't  much,  and  he  may  be  right, 
but  it  represented  the  best  that  there  was  to  be  had. 

Beyond  Fort  Laramie,  separated  by  ninety-five  miles  of  most 
unpromising  country,  lies  the  post  of  Fort  Fetterman,  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  North  Platte.  Boulders  of  gneiss,  greenstone, 
porphyry,  and  other  rocks  from  the  Laramie  Peak  lined  the  bot 
toms  and  sides  of  the  different  dry  arroyos  passed  on  the  march. 
Not  all  the  ravines  were  dry ;  in  a  few  there  was  a  good  supply 
of  water,  and  the  whole  distance  out  from  Fort  Laramie  presented 
no  serious  objections  on  that  score.  In  the  "  Twin  Springs/' 
"Horse-shoe"  Creek,  "Cave"  Springs,  "Elk  Horn"  Creek, 
"Lake  Bonte","  "Wagon  Hound,"  "Bed-tick,"  and  "Whiskey 
Gulch  "  a  supply,  greater  or  less  in  quantity,  dependent  upon  sea- 
eon,  could  generally  be  found.  Much  of  the  soil  was  a  gypsiferous 
red  clay ;  in  all  the  gulches  and  ravines  were  to  be  seen  stunted 
pine  and  cedar.  The  scenery  was  extremely  monotonous,  destitute 
of  herbage,  except  buffalo  grass  and  sage  brush.  An  occasional 
buffalo  head,  bleaching  in  the  sun,  gave  a  still  more  ghastly  tone 
to  the  landscape.  Every  few  minutes  a  prairie  dog  projected  his 
head  above  the  entrance  of  his  domicile  and  barked  at  our  cortege 
passing  by.  Among  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  garrison  at 
Fort  Fetterman,  as  well  as  among  those  who  were  reporting  for 
duty  with  the  expedition,  the  topics  of  conversation  were  invari 
ably  the  probable  strength  and  position  of  the  enemy,  the  ability 
of  horses  and  men  to  bear  the  extreme  cold  to  which  they  were 
sure  to  be  subjected,  and  other  matters  of  a  kindred  nature  which 
were  certain  to  suggest  themselves. 

There,  for  example,  was  the  story,  accepted  without  question, 
that  the  Sioux  had  originally  shown  a  very  friendly  spirit  toward 
the  Americans  passing  across  their  country  to  California,  until 


250          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

on  one  occasion  a  man  offered  grievous  wrong  to  one  of  the  young 
squaws,  and  that  same  evening  the  wagon-train  with  which  he 
was  travelling  was  surrounded  by  a  band  of  determined  warriors, 
who  quietly  expressed  a  desire  to  have  an  interview  with  the 
criminal.  The  Americans  gave  him  up,  and  the  Sioux  skinned 
him  alive;  hence  the  name  of  "Raw  Hide  Creek,"  the  place 
where  this  incident  occurred. 

Another  interesting  story  was  that  of  the  escape  of  one  of  the 
corporals  of  Teddy  Egan's  company  of  the  Second  Cavalry 
from  the  hands  of  a  party  of  Sioux  raiders  on  Laramie  Peak  ; 
several  of  the  corporal's  comrades  were  killed  in  their  blankets, 
as  the  attack  was  made  in  the  early  hours  of  morning,  but  the 
corporal  sprang  out  in  his  bare  feet  and  escaped  down  to  the 
ranches  on  the  La  Bonte,  but  his  feet  were  so  filled  with  fine 
cactus  thorns  and  cut  up  with  sharp  stones  that  he  was  for 
months  unable  to  walk. 

"  Black  Coal,"  one  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Arapahoes,  came  in  to 
see  General  Crook  while  at  Fetterman,  and  told  him  that  his 
tribe  had  information  that  the  hostiles  were  encamped  on  the 
lower  Powder,  below  old  Fort  Reno,  some  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  from  Fetterman.  Telegraphic  advices  were  received  from 
Fort  Laramie  to  the  effect  that  three  hundred  lodges  of  northern 
Sioux  had  just  come  in  at  Red  Cloud  Agency  ;  and  the  additional 
information  that  the  supplies  of  the  Indian  Bureau  at  that  agency 
were  running  short,  and  that  no  replenishment  was  possible  until 
Congress  should  make  another  appropriation. 

This  news  was  both  good  and  bad,  bitter  and  sweet ;  we  should 
have  a  smaller  number  of  Sioux  to  drive  back  to  the  reservation  ; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  if  supplies  were  not  soon  provided,  all 
the  Indians  would  surely  take  to  the  Black  Hills  and  Big  Horn 
country,  where  an  abundance  of  game  of  all  kinds  was  still  to  be 
found.  The  mercury  still  remained  down  in  the  bottom  of  the 
bulb,  and  the  ground  was  covered  deep  with  snow.  In  Wyoming 
the  air  is  so  dry  that  a  thermometer  marking  zero,  or  even  ten 
degrees  below  that  point  on  the  Fahrenheit  scale,  does  not  indi 
cate  any  serious  discomfort ;  the  air  is  bracing,  and  the  cold  win 
ters  seem  to  have  a  beneficial  effect  upon  the  general  health  of 
the  inhabitants.  We  have  no  sturdier,  healthier  people  in  our 
country  than  the  settlers  in  Wyoming  and  Montana. 

Winter  campaigning  was  an  entirely  different  matter ;  even 


CAMPAIGNING  IN  WINTER.  251 

the  savages  hibernated  during  the  cold  months,  and  sought  the 
shelter  of  friendly  cliffs  and  buttes,  at  whose  feet  they  could  pitch 
their  tepees  of  buffalo  or  elk  skin,  and  watch  their  ponies  grazing 
upon  the  pasturage.  The  ponies  of  the  Indians,  the  mares  and 
foals  especially,  fare  poorly  during  this  season  ;  they  have  no 
protection  from  the  keen  northern  blasts,  but  must  huddle  to 
gether  in  ravines  and  "  draws,"  or  "coulees,"  as  the  French 
half-breeds  call  them,  unfcil  the  worst  is  over.  They  become  very 
thin  and  weak,  and  can  hardly  haul  the  "  travois",upon  which 
the  family  supplies  must  be  packed.  Then  is  assuredly  the  time 
to  strike,  provided  always  that  the  soldiers  be  not  caught  and 
frozen  to  death  by  some  furious  storm  while  on  the  march,  or 
after  being  wounded.  Crook  wanted  to  have  our  animals  kept 
in  the  best  condition,  at  least  in  a  condition  somewhat  better  than 
that  of  the  Indian  ponies.  He  knew  that  the  amount  of  grass  to 
be  depended  upon  would  be  very  limited  :  much  of  the  country 
would  be  burned  over  by  the  Indians  to  prepare  for  the  new 
growth  ;  much  would  lie  under  deep  snow,  and  not  be  accessible 
to  our  horses  ;  much  would  be  deadened  by  wind  and  storm  ;  so 
that  the  most  prudent  course  would  be  to  move  out  from  Fetter- 
man  with  a  wagon-train  loaded  with  grain,  which  could  be  fed  in 
small  quantities  to  supplement  the  pasturage  that  might  be  found, 
and  would  keep  our  mules  and  horses  in  strength  and  health.  A 
depot  would  be  established  at  some  convenient  point,  and  from 
that  scouts  and  explorations  into  all  sections  of  the  surrounding 
country  could  be  made  by  light,  swift-moving  columns.  Officers 
and  men  were  informed  that  so  long  as  with  the  wagon-train 
they  would  be  allowed  plenty  of  warm  bedding  and  a  minimum 
supply  of  "A"  and  "dog"  tents,  but  upon  starting  out  for  any 
movement  across  country  they  would  have  to  do  without  any 
thing  but  the  clothing  upon  their  backs.  Particular  attention 
was  bestowed  upon  this  subject  of  clothing ;  and  when  I  say  that 
the  mercury  frequently  congeals  in  the  bulb,  and  that  the  spirit 
thermometers  at  Fort  Fred  Steele,  Wyoming,  that  winter  regis 
tered  as  low  as  61°  below,  Fahrenheit,  the  necessity  of  precaution 
will  be  apparent.  The  most  elastic  interpretation  was  given  to 
the  word  "  uniform/'  so  as  to  permit  individual  taste  and  experi 
ence  to  have  full  play  in  the  selection  of  the  garments  which  were 
to  protect  from  bitter  cold  and  fierce  wind. 

Thinking  that  such  particulars  may  be  of  interest  to  a  portion 


252          ON  THE  BOEDER  WITH  CROOK. 

of  my  readers,  I  will  say  a  few  words  in  regard  to  the  clothing 
worn  by  different  members  of  the  expedition.  For  cavalry, 
great  care  was  demanded  to  protect  feet,  knees,  wrists,  and  ears  ; 
the  foot  soldier  can  stamp  his  feet  or  slap  his  hands  and  ears, 
but  the  mounted  man  must  hold  his  reins  and  sit  up  straight  in 
the  saddle.  Commencing  with  the  feet,  first  a  pair  of  close- 
fitting  lamb's-wool  socks  was  put  on,  then  one  of  the  same  size 
as  those  worn  by  women,  so  as  to  come  over  the  knees.  Indian 
moccasins  of  buckskin,  reaching  well  up  the  leg,  were  generally 
preferred  to  boots,  being  warmer  and  lighter  ;  cork  soles  were 
used  with  them,  and  an  overboot  of  buffalo  hide,  made  with  the 
hairy  side  inward  and  extending  up  nearly  the  whole  length  of 
the  leg,  and  opening  down  the  side  and  fastened  by  buckles 
something  after  the  style  of  the  breeches  worn  by  Mexican 
"vaqueros."  These  overboots  were  soled,  heeled,  and  boxed 
with  leather,  well  tanned.  Some  officers  preferred  to  wear  the 
leggings  separate,  and  to  use  the  overshoe  supplied  by  the 
Quartermaster's  .  Department.  By  this  method,  one  could  dis 
robe  more  readily  after  reaching  camp  and  be  free  to  move  about 
in  the  performance  of  duty  while  the  sun  might  be  shining ;  but 
it  was  open  to  the  objection  that,  on  account  of  the  clumsy  make 
of  the  shoes,  it  was  almost  impossible  to  get  into  the  stirrups 
with  them. 

All  people  of  experience  concurred  in  denouncing  as  pernicious 
the  practice  of  wearing  tight  shoes,  or  the  use  of  any  article  of 
raiment  which  would  induce  too  copious  a  flow  of  perspiration, 
the  great  danger  being  that  there  would  be  more  likelihood  of 
having  the  feet,  or  any  other  part  of  the  body  in  which  the  circu 
lation  might  be  impeded,  frozen  during  spells  of  intense  cold ;  or 
of  having  the  same  sad  experience  where  there  would  be  a  sudden 
checking  of  the  perspiration,  which  would  almost  certainly  result 
in  acute  pneumonia.  For  underwear,  individual  preferences 
were  consulted,  the  general  idea  being  to  have  at  least  two  kinds 
of  material  used,  principally  merino  and  perforated  buckskin  ; 
over  these  was  placed  a  heavy  blue  flannel  shirt,  made  double- 
breasted,  and  then  a  blouse,  made  also  double-breasted,  of  Mis 
sion  or  Minnesota  blanket,  with  large  buttons,  or  a  coat  of 
Norway  kid  lined  with  heavy  flannel.  When  the  blizzards  blew 
nothing  in  the  world  would  keep  out  the  cold  but  an  overcoat  of 
buffalo  or  bearskin  or  beaver,  although  for  many  the  overcoats 


THE  CLOTHING  WORN.  253 

made  in  Saint  Paul  of  canvas,  lined  with  the  heaviest  blanket, 
and  strapped  and  belted  tight  about  the  waist,  were  pronounced 
sufficient.  The  head  was  protected  by  a  cap  of  cloth,  with  fur 
border  to  pull  down  over  the  ears  ;  a  fur  collar  enclosed  the 
neck  and  screened  the  mouth  and  nose  from  the  keen  blasts  ;  and 
the  hands  were  covered  by  woollen  gloves  and  over-gauntlets  of 
beaver  or  musk-rat  fur.  For  rainy  or  snowy  weather  most  of 
the  command  had  two  india-rubber  ponchos  sewed  together, 
which  covered  both  rider  and  horse.  This  was  found  very  cum 
bersome  and  was  generally  discarded,  but  at  night  it  was  decid 
edly  valuable  for  the  exclusion  of  dampness  from  either  ground 
or  sky.  Our  bedding  while  with  the  wagon-trains  was  ample, 
and  there  was  no  complaint  from  either  officers  or  men.  Every 
body  adhered  to  the  one  style  ;  buffalo  robes  were  conceded  to 
be  the  most  suitable  covering.  First,  there  would  be  spread  down 
upon  the  ground  the  strip  of  canvas  in  which  the  blankets  or 
robes  were  to  be  rolled  for  the  march  ;  then  the  india-rubber 
ponchos  spoken  of ;  then,  for  those  who  had  them,  a  mattress 
made  of  chopped  cork,  of  a  total  thickness  of  one  inch,  sewed  in 
transverse  layers  so  as  to  admit  of  being  rolled  more  compactly; 
lastly,  the  buffalo  robes  and  the  blankets  or  cotton  comforters, 
according  to  preference.  The  old  wise-heads  provided  them 
selves  with  bags  of  buffalo  robe,  in  which  to  insert  the  feet,  and 
with  small  canvas  cylinders,  extending  across  the  bed  and  not 
more  than  eight  inches  in  diameter,  which  became  a  safe  recep 
tacle  for  extra  underwear,  socks,  handkerchiefs,  and  any  papers 
that  it  might  be  necessary  to  carry  along.  In  all  cases,  where 
a  man  has  the  choice  of  making  a  winter  campaign  or  staying  at 
home,  I  would  advise  him  to  remember  Punch's  advice  to  those 
who  were  thinking  of  getting  married. 

General  Crook  had  had  much  previous  experience  in  his 
campaign  against  the  Pi-Utes  and  Snakes  of  Idaho  and  north 
ern  Nevada  in  1866-7,  during  which  time  his  pack-trains  had 
been  obliged  to  break  their  way  through  snow  girth  deep,  and 
his  whole  command  had  been  able  to  make  but  thirty-three 
miles  in  twelve  days — a  campaign  of  which  little  has  been  writ 
ten,  but  which  deserves  a  glorious  page  in  American  history  as 
resulting  in  the  complete  subjugation  of  a  fierce  and  crafty 
tribe,  and  in  being  the  means  of  securing  safety  to  the  miners 
of  Nevada  while  they  developed  ledges  which  soon  afterwards 


254          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

poured  into  the  national  treasury  four  hundred  millions  of  dol 
lars  in  dividends  and  wages. 

On  the  1st  of  March,  1876,  after  a  heavy  fall  of  snow  the  pre 
vious  night,  and  in  the  face  of  a  cold  wind,  but  with  the  sun 
shining  brightly  down  upon  us,  we  left  Fetterman  for  the  Powder 
River  and  Big  Horn.  Officers  and  men  were  in  the  best  of  spirits, 
and  horses  champed  eagerly  upon  the  bit  as  if  pleased  with  the 
idea  of  a  journey.  We  had  ten  full  companies  of  cavalry,  equally 
divided  between  the  Second  and  Third  Regiments,  and  two  com 
panies  of  the  Fourth  Infantry.  The  troops  were  under  the  im 
mediate  command  of  Colonel  Joseph  J.  Reynolds,  of  the  Third 
Cavalry,  Brevet  Major-General.  His  staff  officers  were  Lieuten 
ants  Morton  and  Drew,  both  of  the  Third  Cavalry,  acting  as 
adjutant  and  quartermaster,  respectively. 

General  Reynolds  divided  his  forces  into  battalions  of  two 
companies  each,  one  pack-train  being  attached  to  each  of  the 
mounted  battalions,  the  infantry  remaining  with  the  wagons. 

These  battalions  were  composed  as  follows  :  "M"  and  "E," 
Third  Cavalry,  under  Captain  Anson  Mills;  "A"  and  "D," 
Third  Cavalry,  under  Captain  William  Hawley  ;  "  I  "  and  "K," 
Second  Cavalry,  under  Major  H.  E.  Noyes ;  "A"  and  "B," 
Second,  under  Major  T.  B.  Dewees;  "F,"  Third  Cavalry,  and 
"  E/'  Second,  under  Colonel  Alex.  Moore,  of  the  Third  Cavalry  ; 
"C"  and  "I,"  Fourth  Infantry,  under  Major  E.  M.  Coates,  of 
the  same  regiment.  Assistant  Surgeon  C.  E.  Munn  was  medi 
cal  officer,  assisted  by  A.  A.  Surgeon  Ridgeley  and  by  Hospital 
Steward  Bryan.  The  subordinate  officers  in  command  of  com 
panies,  or  attached  to  them,  were  Captains  Egan  and  Peale,  of 
the  Second  Cavalry,  and  Ferris,  of  the  Fourth  Infantry ;  Lieu 
tenants  Robinson,  Rawolle,  Pearson,  Sibley,  Hall,  of  the  Second 
Cavalry,  and  Paul,  J.  B.  Johnson,  Lawson,  Robinson,  and  Rey 
nolds,  of  the  Third  Cavalry  ;  Mason,  of  the  Fourth  Infantry. 

There  were  eighty-six  mule-wagons  loaded  with  forage,  and 
three  or  four  ambulances  carrying  as  much  as  they  safely  could  of 
the  same.  The  pack-train,  in  five  divisions  of  eighty  mules  each, 
was  under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  Thomas  Moore,  Chief  of  Trans 
portation,  and  was  assigned  as  follows  :  MacAuliffe,  to  the  1st 
Battalion  ;  Closter,  to  the  2d  ;  Foster,  to  the  3d  ;  Young,  to  the 
4th  ;  De  Laney,  to  the  5th. 

The  advance  of  the  column  was  led  by  Colonel  Thaddeus  H. 


FRANK  GRUARD,    THE   SCOUT.  355 

Stanton  and  the  band  of  half-breed  scouts  recruited  at  the  Red 
Cloud  and  Spotted  Tail  agencies.  General  Crook  marched  with 
these  nearly  all  the  time,  and  I  was  so  much  interested  in  learn 
ing  all  that  was  possible  about  the  northwest  country,,  and  the 
Indians  and  the  half-breeds  inhabiting  it,  that  I  devoted  all  the 
time  I  could  to  conversing  with  them.  Frank  Gruard,  a  native 
of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  was  for  some  years  a  mail-rider  in 
northern  Montana,  and  was  there  captured  by  the  forces  of 
"  Crazy  Horse  "  ;  his  dark  skin  and  general  appearance  gave  his 
captors  the  impression  that  Frank  was  a  native  Indian  whom 
they  had  recaptured  from  the  whites  ;  consequently,  they  did  not 
kill  him,  but  kept  him  a  prisoner  until  he  could  recover  what 
they  believed  to  be  his  native  language — the  Sioux.  Frank 
remained  several  years  in  the  household  of  the  great  chief 
"  Crazy  Horse,"  whom  he  knew  very  well,  as  well  as  his  medi 
cine  man — the  since  renowned  "  Sitting  Bull/'  Gruard  was  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  woodsmen  I  have  ever  met ;  no  Indian 
could  surpass  him  in  his  intimate  acquaintance  with  all  that  per 
tained  to  the  topography,  animal  life,  and  other  particulars  of 
the  great  region  between  the  head  of  the  Piney,  the  first  affluent 
of  the  Powder  on  the  west,  up  to  and  beyond  the  Yellowstone  on 
the  north ;  no  question  could  be  asked  him  that  he  could  not 
answer  at  once  and  correctly.  His  bravery  and  fidelity  were 
never  questioned;  he  never  flinched  under  fire,  and  never 
growled  at  privation.  Louis  Richaud,  Baptiste  Pourrier  ("Big 
Bat"),  Baptiste  Garnier  ("Little  Bat"),  Louis  Changrau,  Speed 
Stagner,  Ben  Clarke,  and  others  were  men  of  excellent  record 
as  scouts,  and  all  rendered  efficient  service  during  the  entire 
expedition.  There  was  one  representative  of  the  public  press — 
Mr.  Robert  E.  Strahorn,  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  News,  who 
remained  throughout  the  entire  campaign,  winter  and  summer, 
until  the  last  of  the  hostiles  had  surrendered. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

MOVING  INTO  THE  BIG  HORN  COUNTRY  IN  WINTER— THE 
HERD  STAMPEDED— A  NIGHT  ATTACK — ( '  JEFF'S  "  OOZING 
COURAGE — THE  GRAVE-YARD  AT  OLD  FORT  RENO — IN  A 
MONTANA  BLIZZARD — THE  MERCURY  FROZEN  IN  THE 
BULB — KILLING  BUFFALO — INDIAN  GRAVES — HOW  CROOK 
LOOKED  WHILE  ON  THIS  CAMPAIGN — FINDING  A  DEAD 
INDIAN'S  ARM — INDIAN  PICTURES. 

rip  HE  march  from  Fort  Fetterman  to  old  Fort  Reno,  a  dis- 
J-  tance  of  ninety  miles,  led  us  through  a  country  of  which 
the  less  said  the  better ;  it  is  suited  for  grazing  and  may  ap 
peal  to  the  eyes  of  a  cow-boy,  but  for  the  ordinary  observer,  es 
pecially  during  the  winter  season,  it  presents  nothing  to  charm 
any  sense  ;  the  landscape  is  monotonous  and  uninviting,  and  the 
vision  is  bounded  by  swell  after  swell  of  rolling  prairie,  yellow 
with  a  thick  growth  of  winter-killed  buffalo  or  bunch  grass,  with 
a  liberal  sprinkling  of  that  most  uninteresting  of  all  vegetation 
— the  sage-brush.  The  water  is  uniformly  and  consistently  bad 
— being  both  brackish  and  alkaline,  and  when  it  freezes  into  ice 
the  ice  is  nearly  always  rotten  and  dangerous,  for  a  passage  at 
least  by  mounted  troops  or  wagons.  Wood  is  not  to  be  had  for 
the  first  fifty  miles,  and  has  to  be  carried  along  in  wagons  for 
commands  of  any  size.  Across  this  charming  expanse  the  wind 
howled  and  did  its  best  to  freeze  us  all  to  death,  but  we  were 
too  well  prepared. 

The  first  night  out  from  Fetterman  the  presence  of  hostile 
Indians  was  indicated  by  the  wounding  of  our  herder,  shot 
in  the  lungs,  and  by  the  stampeding  of  our  herd  of  cattle — forty- 
five  head — which  were  not,  however,  run  off  by  the  attacking 
party,  bat  headed  for  the  post  and  could  not  be  turned  and 
brought  back.  There  was  very  little  to  record  of  this  part  of 
the  march  :  a  night  attack  or  two,  the  firing  by  our  pickets  at 
anything  and  everything  which  looked  like  a  man,  the  killing  of 


FOLLOWING  THE  OLD  MONTANA  EOAD.  257 

several  buffaloes  by  the  guides  in  front — old  bulls  which  would 
pull  all  the  ieeth  out  of  one's  head  were  they  to  be  chewed  ;  better 
success  with  antelope,  whose  meat  was  tender  and  palatable  ;  the 
sight  of  a  column  of  dust  in  the  remote  distance,  occasioned, 
probably,  by  the  movement  of  an  Indian  village,  and  the  flashing 
of  looking-glass  signals  by  hostiles  on  our  right  flank,  made  the 
sum  total  of  events  worthy  of  insertion  in  the  journals  kept 
at  the  time.  Lodge-pole  trails  and  pony  tracks  increased  in 
numbers,  and  a  signal  smoke  curled  upwards  from  one  of  the 
distant  buttes  in  our  front.  On  our  left,  the  snow-clad  masses 
of  the  "Big  Horn"  range  rose  slowly  above  the  horizon,  and 
on  the  right  the  sullen,  inhospitable  outline  of  the  "  Pumpkin 
Buttes."  General  Crook  ordered  that  the  greatest  care  should 
be  taken  in  the  manner  of  posting  sentinels,  and  in  enjoining  vigil 
ance  upon  them  ;  he  directed  that  no  attempt  should  be  made  to 
catch  any  of  the  small  parties  of  the  enemy's  videttes,  which 
began  to  show  themselves  and  to  retreat  when  followed  ;  he  ex 
plained  that  all  they  wanted  was  to  entice  us  into  a  pursuit 
which  could  have  no  effect  beyond  breaking  down  twenty  or 
thirty  of  our  horses  each  time. 

We  were  out  of  camp,  and  following  the  old  Montana  road  by 
daylight  of  the  5th  of  March,  1876,  going  down  the  "  Dry  Fork" 
of  the  Powder.  There  was  no  delay  on  any  account,  and  affairs 
began  to  move  like  clock-work.  The  scenery  was  dreary ;  the 
weather  bitter  cold ;  the  bluffs  on  either  side  bare  and  sombre 
prominences  of  yellow  clay,  slate,  and  sandstone.  The  leaden 
sky  overhead  promised  no  respite  from  the  storm  of  cold  snow 
and  wind  beating  into  our  faces  from  the  northwest.  A  stranger 
would  not  have  suspected  at  first  glance  that  the  command  pass 
ing  along  the  defile  of  this  miserable  little  sand-bed  had  any 
connection  with  the  military  organization  of  the  United  States  ; 
shrouded  from  head  to  foot  in  huge  wrappings  of  wool  and  fur, 
what  small  amount  of  uniform  officers  or  men  wore  was  almost 
entirely  concealed  from  sight;  but  a  keener  inspection  would 
have  convinced  the  observer  that  it  was  an  expedition  of  soldiers, 
and  good  ones  at  that.  The  promptness,  ease,  and  lack  of  noise 
with  which  all  evolutions  were  performed,  the  compactness  of  the 
columns,  the  good  condition  of  arms  and  horses,  and  the  care 
displayed  in  looking  after  the  trains,  betokened  the  discipline  of 
yeteran  soldiery. 
17 


258          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

That  evening  a  party  of  picked  scouts,  under  Frank  Gruard, 
was  sent  to  scour  the  country  in  our  front  and  on  our  right  flank ; 
there  was  no  need  of  examining  the  country  on  the  left,  as  the 
Big  Horn  range  was  so  close,  and  there  was  no  likelihood  of 
the  savages  going  up  on  its  cold  flanks  to  live  during  winter 
while  such  better  and  more  comfortable  localities  were  at  hand 
in  the  river  and  creek  bottoms.  The  sun  was  just  descending 
behind  the  summits  of  the  Big  Horn,  having  emerged  from 
behind  a  bank  of  leaden  clouds  long  enough  to  assure  us  that  he 
was  still  in  existence,  and  Major  Coates  was  putting  his  pickets 
in  position  and  giving  them  their  final  instructions,  when  a  bold 
attack  was  made  by  a  small  detachment  of  the  Sioux ;  their 
advance  was  detected  as  they  were  creeping  upon  us  through  a 
grove  of  cotton  woods  close  to  camp,  and  although  there  was 
a  brisk  interchange  of  leaden  compliments,  no  damage  was  done 
to  our  people  beyond  the  wounding  slightly  of  Corporal  Slavey, 
of  Coates's  company.  Crook  ordered  a  large  force  to  march 
promptly  to  the  other  side  of  camp,  thinking  that  the  enemy  was 
merely  making  a  "  bluff  "  on  one  extremity,  but  would  select  a 
few  bold  warriors  to  rush  through  at  the  other  end,  and,  by 
waving  blankets,  shrieking,  firing  guns,  and  all  other  tricks  of 
that  sort,  stampede  our  stock  and  set  us  afoot.  The  entire  com 
mand  kept  underarms  for  half  an  hour  and  was  then  withdrawn. 
From  this  on  we  had  the  companies  formed  each  morning  at 
daybreak,  ready  for  the  attack  which  might  come  at  any  moment. 
The  early  hour  set  for  breaking  camp  no  doubt  operated  to  frus 
trate  plans  of  doing  damage  to  the  column  entertained  by  wan 
dering  bodies  of  the  Sioux  and  Cheyennes. 

Colonel  Stanton  was  accompanied  by  a  colored  cook,  Mr. 
Jefferson  Clark,  a  faithful  henchman  who  had  followed  the 
fortunes  of  his  chief  for  many  years.  Jeff  wasn't  a  bad  cook, 
and  he  was,  according  to  his  own  story,  one  of  the  most  blood 
thirsty  enemies  the  Sioux  ever  had ;  it  was  a  matter  of  difficulty 
to  restrain  him  from  leaving  the  command  and  wandering  out 
alone  in  quest  of  aboriginal  blood.  This  night-attack  seemed  to 
freeze  all  the  fight  out  of  Jeff,  and  he  never  again  expressed 
the  remotest  desire  to  shoot  anything,  not  even  a  jack-rabbit. 
But  the  soldiers  had  no  end  of  fun  with  him,  and  many  and 
many  a  trick  was  played,  and  many  and  many  a  lie  told,  to  make 
his  hair  stiffen,  and  his  eyes  to  glaze  in  terror. 


OLD  FORT  RENO.  259 

When  we  reached  the  "  Crazy  Woman's  Fork  "  of  the  Powder 
River,  camp  was  established,  with  an  abundance  of  excellent 
water  and  any  amount  of  dry  cottonwood  fuel ;  but  grass  was  not 
very  plentiful,  although  there  had  been  a  steady  improvement  in 
that  respect  ever  since  leaving  the  South  Cheyenne.  We  had 
that  day  passed  through  the  ruins  of  old  Fort  Reno,  one  of  the 
military  cantonments  abandoned  by  the  Government  at  the 
demand  of  the  Sioux  in  1867.  Nothing  remained  except  a  few 
chimneys,  a  part  of  the  bake-house,  and  some  fragments  of  the 
adobe  walls  of  the  quarters  or  offices.  The  grave-yard  had  a  half 
dozen  or  a  dozen  of  broken,  dilapidated  head-boards  to  mark  the 
last  resting-places  of  brave  soldiers  who  had  fallen  in  desperate 
wars  with  savage  tribes  that  civilization  might  extend  her  boun 
daries.  Our  wagon-train  was  sent  back  under  escort  of  the  infan 
try  to  Fort  Reno,  there  to  await  our  return. 

All  the  officers  were  summoned  to  hear  from  General  Crook's 
own  lips  what  he  wanted  them  to  do.  He  said  that  we  should 
now  leave  our  wagons  behind  and  strike  out  with  the  pack-trains ; 
all  superfluous  baggage  must  be  left  in  camp ;  every  officer  and 
every  soldier  should  be  allowed  the  clothes  on  his  back  and  no 
more  ;  for  bedding  each  soldier  could  carry  along  one  buffalo 
robe  or  two  blankets ;  to  economize  transportation,  company 
officers  should  mess  with  their  men,  and  staff  officers  or  those 
"unattached  "  with  the  pack-trains;  officers  to  have  the  same 
amount  of  bedding  as  the  men  ;  each  man  could  take  one  piece  of 
shelter  tent,  and  each  officer  one  piece  of  canvas,  or  every  two 
officers  one  tent  fly.  We  were  to  start  out  on  a  trip  to  last  fifteen 
days  unless  the  enemy  should  be  sooner  found,  and  were  to  take 
along  half  rations  of  bacon,  hard  tack,  coffee,  and  sugar. 

About  seven  o'clock  on  the  night  of  March  7,  1876,  bj-  the 
light  of  a  three-quarters  moon,  we  began  our  march  to  the  north 
and  west,  and  made  thirty-five  miles.  At  first  the  country  had 
the  undulating  contour  of  that  near  old  Fort  Reno,  but  the 
prairie  " "  swells  "  were  soon  superseded  by  bluffs  of  bolder  and 
bolder  outline  until,  as  we  approached  the  summit  of  the 
"  divide  "  where  "  Clear  Fork  "  heads,  we  found  ourselves  in  a 
region  deserving  the  title  mountainous.  In  the  bright  light  of 
the  moon  and  stars,  our  column  of  cavalry  wound  up  the  steep 
hill-sides  like  an  enormous  snake,  whose  scales  were  glittering 
revolvers  and  carbines.  The  view  was  certainly  very  exhilarating, 


260          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

backed  as  it  was  by  the  majestic  landscape  of  moonlight  on  the 
Big  Horn  Mountains.  Cynthia's  silvery  beams  never  lit  up  a 
mass  of  mountain  crests  more  worthy  of  delineation  upon  an 
artist's  canvas.  Above  the  frozen  apex  of  "  Cloud  Peak  "  the 
evening  star  cast  its  declining  rays.  Other  prominences  rivalling 
this  one  in  altitude  thrust  themselves  out  against  the  midnight 
sky.  Exclamations  of  admiration  and  surprise  were  extorted 
from  the  most  stolid  as  the  horses  rapidly  passed  from  bluff  to 
bluff,  pausing  at  times  to  give  every  one  an  opportunity  to  study 
some  of  Nature's  noble  handiwork. 

But  at  last  even  the  gorgeous  vista  failed  to  alleviate  the  cold  and 
pain  in  benumbed  limbs,  or  to  dispel  the  drowsiness  which  Mor 
pheus  was  placing  upon  exhausted  eyelids.  With  no  small  degree 
of  satisfaction  we  noticed  the  signal  which  at  five  o'clock  in  the 
morning  of  March  8th  bade  us  make  camp  on  the  Clear  Fork  of 
the  Powder.  The  site  was  dreary  enough  ;  scarcely  any  timber  in 
sight,  plenty  of  water,  but  frozen  solid,  and  only  a  bare  picking 
of  grass  for  our  tired  animals.  However,  what  we  most  needed 
was  sleep,  and  that  we  sought  as  soon  as  horses  had  been  unsad 
dled  and  mules  unpacked.  Wrapped  up  in  our  heavy  overcoats 
and  furs  we  threw  ourselves  on  the  bleak  and  frozen  ground,  and 
were  soon  deep  in  slumber.  After  lying  down  in  the  bright, 
calm,  and  cheerful  moonlight,  we  were  awakened  about  eight 
o'clock  by  a  bitter,  pelting  storm  of  snow  which  blew  in  our 
teeth  whichever  way  we  turned,  and  almost  extinguished  the 
petty  fires  near  which  the  cooks  were  trying  to  arrange  break 
fast,  if  we  may  dignify  by  such  a  lofty  title  the  frozen  bacon, 
frozen  beans,  and  frozen  coffee  which  constituted  the  repast.  It 
is  no  part  of  a  soldier's  business  to  repine,  but  if  there  are  cir 
cumstances  to  justify  complaint  they  are  the  absence  of  warmth 
and  good  food  after  a  wearisome  night  march  and  during  the 
prevalence  of  a  cold  winter  storm.  After  coffee  had  been  swal 
lowed  General  Crook  moved  the  command  down  the  "  Clear 
Fork "  five  miles,  to  a  pleasant  cove  where  we  remained  all  the 
rest  of  that  day.  Our  situation  was  not  enviable.  It  is  true  we 
experienced  nothing  we  could  call  privation  or  hardship,  but  we 
had  to  endure  much  positive  discomfort.  The  storm  continued 
all  day,  the  wind  blowing  with  keenness  and  at  intervals  with 
much  power.  Being  without  tents,  there  was  nothing  to  do  but 
grin  and  bear  it.  Some  of  our  people  stretched  blankets  to  the 


ROUGH   WEATHER.  £61 

branches  of  trees,  others  found  a  questionable  shelter  under  the 
bluffs,  one  or  two  constructed  nondescript  habitations  of  twigs 
and  grass,  while  General  Crook  and  Colonel  Stanton  seized  upon 
the  abandoned  den  of  a  family  of  beavers  which  a  sudden  change 
in  the  bed  of  the  stream  had  deprived  of  their  home.  To  obtain 
water  for  men  and  animals  holes  were  cut  in  the  ice,  which 
was  by  actual  measurement  eighteen  inches  thick,  clear  in  color 
and  vitreous  in  texture.  We  hugged  the  fires  as  closely  as  we 
dared,  ashes  and  cinders  being  cast  into  our  faces  with  every 
turn  in  the  hurricane.  The  narrow  thread  of  the  stream,  with 
its  opaque  and  glassy  surface  of  ice,  covered  with  snow,  here 
drifted  into  petty  hillocks,  here  again  carried  away  before  the 
gale,  looked  the  picture  of  all  that  could  be  imagined  cheerless 
and  drear.  We  tried  hard  to  find  pleasure  in  watching  the 
trouble  of  our  fellow-soldiers  obliged  for  any  reason  to  attempt  a 
crossing  of  the  treacherous  surface.  Commencing  with  an  air  of 
boldness  and  confidence — with  some,  even  of  indifference — a  few 
steps  forward  would  serve  to  intimidate  the  unfortunate  wight, 
doubly  timid  now  that  he  saw  himself  the  butt  of  all  gibes  and 
jeers.  Now  one  foot  slips,  now  another,  but  still  he  struggles 
manfully  on,  and  has  almost  gained  the  opposite  bank,  when — 
slap  !  bang  !  both  feet  go  from  under  him,  and  a  dint  in  the 
solid  ice  commemorates  his  inglorious  fall.  In  watching  such 
episodes  we  tried  to  dispel  the  wearisomeness  of  the  day.  Every 
one  welcomed  the  advent  of  night,  which  enabled  us  to  seek  such 
rest  as  could  be  found,  and,  clad  as  we  were  last  night,  in  the 
garments  of  the  day,  officers  and  men  huddled  close  together  to 
keep  from  freezing  to  death.  Each  officer  and  man  had  placed 
one  of  his  blankets  upon  his  horse,  and,  seeing  that  there  was  a 
grave  necessity  of  doing  something  to  prevent  loss  of  life,  Gen 
eral  Crook  ordered  that  as  many  blankets  as  could  be  spared 
from  the  pack-trains  should  be  spread  over  the  sleepers. 

It  snowed  fiercely  all  night,  and  was  still  snowing  and  blus 
tering  savagely  when  we  were  aroused  in  the  morning  ;  but  we 
pushed  out  over  a  high  ridge  which  we  took  to  be  part  of  the 
chain  laid  down  on  the  map  as  the  "Wolf"  or  "Panther" 
mountains.  The  storm  continued  all  day,  and  the  fierce  north 
wind  still  blew  in  our  teeth,  making  us  imagine  ojd  Boreas  to 
be  in  league  with  the  Indians  to  prevent  our  occupancy  of  the 
country.  Mustaches  and  beards  coated  with  pendent  icicles 


262          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

several  inches  long  and  bodies  swathed  in  raiment  of  furs  and 
hides  made  this  expedition  of  cavalry  resemble  a  long  column  of 
Santa  Clauses  on  their  way  to  the  polar  regions  to  lay  in  a  new 
supply  of  Christmas  gifts.  We  saw  some  very  fresh  buffalo 
manure  and  also  some  new  Indian  sign.  Scouts  were  pushed 
ahead  to  scour  the  country  while  the  command  went  into  bivouac 
in  a  secluded  ravine  which  afforded  a  sufficiency  of  water,  cot- 
tonwood  fuel,  and  good  grass,  and  sheltered  us  from  the  obser 
vation  of  roving  Indians,  although  the  prevailing  inclement 
weather  rendered  it  highly  improbable  that  many  hunters  or 
spies  would  be  far  away  from  their  villages.  The  temperature 
became  lower  and  lower,  and  the  regular  indications  upon  our 
thermometer  after  sundown  were  —  6°  and  —  10°  of  the  Fah 
renheit  scale.  Men  and  animals  had  not  yet  suffered  owing  to 
the  good  fortune  in  always  finding  ravines  in  which  to  bivouac, 
and  where  the  vertical  clay  banks  screened  from  the  howling 
winds.  The  snow  continued  all  through  the  night  of  the  9th 
and  the  day  of  the  10th  of  March,  but  we  succeeded  in  making 
pretty  good  marches,  following  down  the  course  of  Prairie  Dog 
Creek  for  twenty-two  miles  in  the  teeth  of  a  blast  which  was 
laden  with  minute  crystals  of  snow  frozen  to  the  sharpness  of 
razors  and  cutting  the  skin  wherever  it  touched.  Prairie  Dog 
Creek  at  first  flows  through  a  narrow  gorge,  but  this  widens  into 
a  flat  valley  filled  with  the  burrows  of  the  dainty  little  animals 
which  gire  the  stream  its  name  and  which  could  be  seen  in 
numbers  during  every  lull  in  the  storm  running  around  in  the 
snow  to  and  from  their  holes  and  making  tracks  in  every  direc 
tion.  Before  seeing  this  I  had  been  under  the  impression  that 
the  prairie  dog  hibernated. 

While  the  severity  of  the  weather  had  had  but  slight  effect 
upon  the  command  directly,  the  slippery  trail,  frozen  like  glass, 
imposed  an  unusual  amount  of  hard  labor  upon  both  human  and 
equine  members,  and  it  was  only  by  the  greatest  exertion  that 
serious  accidents  were  averted  in  the  crossing  of  the  little  ravines 
which  intersected  the  trail  every  two  or  three  hundred  yards. 
One  of  the  corporals  of  "  D  "  Company,  Third  Cavalry,  was  in 
ternally  injured,  to  what  extent  could  not  be  told  at  the  moment, 
by  his  horse  falling  upon  him  while  walking  by  his  side.  A  "  tra- 
vois  "  was  made  of  two  long  saplings  and  a  blanket,  in  which  the 
sufferer  was  dragged  along  behind  a  mule.  The  detachment  of 


THE  COLD  GETTING  INTENSE.  263 

guides,  sent  out  several  nights  previously,  returned  this  evening, 
reporting  having  found  a  recently  abandoned  village  of  sixty 
"  tepis,"  and  every  indication  of  long  habitancy.  The  Indians 
belonging  thereto  had  plenty  of  meat — buffalo,  deer,  and  elk — 
some  of  which  was  left  behind  upon  departure.  A  young  puppy, 
strangled  to  death,  was  found  hanging  to  a  tree.  This  is  one  of 
the  greatest  delicacies  of  every  well-regulated  Sioux  feast — choked 
pup.  It  also  figures  in  their  sacrifices,  especially  all  those  in  any 
manner  connected  with  war.  The  guides  had  brought  back  with 
them  a  supply  of  venison,  which  was  roasted  on  the  embers  and 
pronounced  delicious  by  hungry  palates.  The  storm  abated  dur 
ing  the  night,  and  there  were  glimpses  of  the  moon  behind  fleeting 
clouds,  but  the  cold  became  much  more  intense,  and  we  began  to 
suffer.  The  next  morning  our  thermometer  failed  to  register. 
It  did  not  mark  below  —  22°  Fahrenheit,  and  the  mercury  bad 
passed  down  into  the  bulb  and  congealed  into  a  solid  button, 
showing  that  at  least  —  39°  had  been  reached.  The  wind,  how 
ever,  had  gone  down,  for  which  we  were  all  thankful.  The  sun 
shone  out  bright  and  clear,  the  frost  on  the  grass  glistened  like 
diamonds,  and  our  poor  horses  were  coated  with  ice  and  snow. 

We  marched  north  eight  or  nine  miles  down  the  Tongue  Eiver, 
which  had  to  be  crossed  six  times  on  the  ice.  This  was  a  fine 
stream,  between  thirty  and  forty  yards  wide,  its  banks  thickly 
fringed  with  box-elder,  cottonwood,  and  willow.  Grama  grass 
was  Abundant  in  the  foot-hills  close  by,  and  in  all  respects  ex 
cept  cold  this  was  the  finest  camp  yet  made.  The  main  com 
mand  halted  and  bivouacked  at  this  point,  to  enable  the  guides 
to  explore  to  the  west,  to  the  Eosebud,  and  beyond.  On  the 
night  of  March  llth  we  had  a  lovely  moonlight,  but  the  cold  was 
still  hard  to  bear,  and  the  mercury  was  again  congealed.  Fortu 
nately  no  one  was  frozen,  for  which  fact  some  credit  is  due  to  the 
precautions  taken  in  the  matter  of  clothing,  and  to  the  great 
care  manifested  by  our  medical  officer,  Surgeon  Munn.  The 
exemption  of  the  command  from  frost-bite  was  not  more  re 
markable  than  the  total  absence  of  all  ailments  of  a  pneumo- 
nitic  type  ;  thus  far,  there  had  not  been  a  single  instance  of 
pneumonia,  influenza,  or  even  simple  cold.  I  have  no  hesitancy 
in  saying  that  the  climate  of  Wyoming  or  Montana  is  better  suited 
for  invalids  suffering  from  lung  disorders,  not  of  an  aggravated 
nature,  than  is  that  of  Florida ;  I  have  some  personal  acquaint- 


264          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

ance  with  the  two  sections,  and  the  above  is  my  deliberate  con 
viction. 

Despite  the  hyperborean  temperature,  the  genial  good-humor 
and  cheerfulness  of  the  whole  command  was  remarkable  and 
deserving  of  honorable  mention.  Nothing  tries  the  spirit  and 
temper  of  the  old  veteran,  not  to  mention  the  young  recruit, 
as  does  campaigning  under  unusual  climatic  vicissitudes,  at  a 
time  when  no  trace  of  the  enemy  is  to  be  seen.  To  march  into 
battle  with  banners  flying,  drums  beating,  and  the  pulse  throb 
bing  high  with  the  promptings  of  honorable  ambition  and  enthu 
siasm,  in  unison  with  the  roar  of  artillery,  does  not  call  for  half 
the  nerve  and  determination  that  must  be  daily  exercised  to  pur 
sue  mile  after  mile  in  such  terrible  weather,  over  rugged  moun 
tains  and  through  unknown  caflons,  a  foe  whose  habits  of  warfare 
are  repugnant  to  every  principle  of  humanity,  and  whose  presence 
can  be  determined  solely  by  the  flash  of  the  rifle  which  lays  some 
poor  sentry  low,  or  the  whoop  and  yell  which  stampede  our  stock 
from  the  grazing-grounds.  The  life  of  a  soldier,  in  time  of  war, 
has  scarcely  a  compensating  feature ;  but  he  ordinarily  expects 
palatable  food  whenever  obtainable,  and  good  warm  quarters  dur 
ing  the  winter  season.  In  campaigning  against  Indians,  if  anx 
ious  to  gain  success,  he  must  lay  aside  every  idea  of  good  food 
and  comfortable  lodgings,  and  make  up  his  mind  to  undergo  with 
cheerfulness  privations  from  which  other  soldiers  would  shrink 
back  dismayed.  His  sole  object  should  be  to  strike  the  enemy 
and  to  strike  him  hard,  and  this  accomplished  should  be  full 
compensation  for  all  privations  undergone.  With  all  its  disad 
vantages  this  system  of  Indian  warfare  is  a  grand  school  for 
the  cavalrymen  of  the  future,  teaching  them  fortitude,  vigilance, 
self-reliance,  and  dexterity,  besides  that  instruction  in  handling, 
marching,  feeding,  and  fighting  troops  which  no  school  can  im 
part  in  text-books. 

This  manner  of  theorizing  upon  the  subject  answered  excel 
lently  well,  except  at  breakfast,  when  it  strained  the  nervous  sys 
tem  immensely  to  admit  that  soldiers  should  under  any  circum 
stances  be  sent  out  on  winter  campaigns  in.  this  latitude.  Our 
cook  had  first  to  chop  with  an  axe  the  bacon  which  over  night  had 
frozen  hard  as  marble  ;  frequently  the  hatchet  or  axe  was  broken 
in  the  contest.  Then  if  he  had  made  any  "  soft  bread/7  that  is, 
bread  made  of  flour  and  baked  in  a  frying-pan,  he  had  to  place 


MARCHING  NORTHWARD.  265 

that  before  a  strong  fire  for  several  minutes  to  thaw  it  so  it  could 
be  eaten,  and  all  the  forks,  spoons,  and  knives  had  to  be  run 
through  hot  water  or  hot  ashes  to  prevent  them  from  taking  the 
skin  off  the  tongue.  The  same  rule  had  to  be  observed  with  the 
bits  when  our  horses  were  bridled.  I  have  seen  loaves- of  bread 
divided  into  two  zones — the  one  nearer  the  blazing  fire  soft  and 
eatable,  the  other  still  frozen  hard  as  flint  and  cold  as  charity. 
The  same  thing  was  to  be  noticed  in  the  pans  of  beans  and  other 
food  served  up  for  consumption. 

For  several  days  we  had  similar  experiences  which  need  not  be 
repeated.  Our  line  of  march  still  continued  northward,  going 
down  the  Tongue  River,  whose  valley  for  a  long  distance  narrowed 
to  a  little  gorge  bordered  by  bluffs  of  red  and  yellow  sandstone, 
between  one  hundred  and  fifty  and  two  hundred  feet  high — in 
some  places  much  higher — well  fringed  with  scrub  pine  and  juni 
per.  Coal  measures  of  a  quality  not  definitely  determined  cropped 
out  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  By  this  time  we  were  pretty  far 
advanced  across  the  borders  of  the  Territory  of  Montana,  and  in 
a  region  well  grassed  with  grama  and  the  "  black  sage/'  a  plant 
almost  as  nutritious  as  oats.  The  land  in  the  stream  bottoms 
seemed  to  be  adapted  for  cultivation.  Again  the  scouts  crossed 
over  to  the  Rosebud,  finding  no  signs  of  the  hostiles,  but  bringing 
back  the  meat  of  two  buffalo  bulls  which  they  had  killed.  This 
was  a  welcome  addition  to  the  food  of  men  without  fresh  meat 
of  any  kind ;  our  efforts  to  coax  some  of  the  fish  in  the  stream 
to  bite  did  not  meet  with  success  ;  the  weather  was  too  cold  for 
them  to  come  out  of  the  deep  pools  in  which  they  were  passing 
the  winter.  The  ice  was  not  far  from  two  feet  in  thickness,  and 
the  trout  were  torpid.  The  scouts  could  not  explain  why  they 
had  not  been  able  to  place  the  villages  of  the  hostiles,  and  some 
of  our  people  were  beginning  to  believe  that  there  were  none  out 
from  the  reservations,  and  that  all  had  gone  in  upon  hearing  that 
the  troops  had  moved  out  after  them  ;  in  this  view  neither  Frank 
Gruard,  "Big  Bat/"  nor  the  others  of  the  older  heads  concurred. 

"  We'll  find  them  pretty  soon  "  was  all  that  Frank  would  say. 
As  we  approached  the  Yellowstone  we  came  upon  abandoned 
villages,  with  the  frame-work  of  branches  upon  which  the  squaws 
had  been  drying  meat ;  one  or  two,  or  it  may  have  been  three, 
of  these  villages  had  been  palisaded  as  a  protection  against  the  * 
incursions  of  the  Absaroka  or  Crows  of  Montana,  who  raided  upon 


266          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

the  villages  of  the  Sioux  when  the  latter  were  not  raiding  upon 
theirs.  Cot  ton  wood  by  the  hundreds  of  cords  lay  scattered  about 
the  villages,  felled  by  the  Sioux  as  a  food  for  their  ponies,  which 
derive  a  small  amount  of  nourishment  from  the  inner  bark. 
There  were  Indian  graves  in  numbers  :  the  corpse,  wrapped  in  its 
best  blankets  and  buffalo  robes,  was  placed  upon  a  scaffold  in  the 
branches  of  trees,  and  there  allowed  to  dry  and  to  decay.  The 
cottonwood  trees  here  attained  a  great  size  :  four,  five,  and  six 
feet  in  diameter  ;  and  all  the  conditions  for  making  good  camps 
were  satisfied  :  the  water  was  excellent,  after  the  ice  had  been 
broken  ;  a  great  sufficiency  of  succulent  grass  was  to  be  found  in 
the  nooks  sheltered  from  the  wind  ;  and  as  for  wood,  there  was 
more  than  we  could*  properly  use  in  a  generation.  One  of  the 
cooks,  by  mistake,  made  a  fire  at  the  foot  of  a  great  hollow  cot 
tonwood  stump ;  in  a  few  moments  the  combustible  interior  was 
a  mass  of  flame,  which  hissed  and  roared  through  that  strange 
chimney  until  it  had  reached  an  apparent  height  of  a  hundred  feet 
above  the  astonished  packers  seated  at  its  base.  Buffalo  could 
be  seen  every  day,  and  the  meat  appeared  at  every  meal  to  the 
satisfaction  of  all,  notwithstanding  its  stringiness  and  exceeding 
toughness,  because  we  could  hit  nothing  but  the  old  bulls.  A 
party  of  scouts  was  sent  on  in  front  to  examine  the  country  as  far 
as  the  valley  of  the  Yellowstone,  the  bluffs  on  whose  northern 
bank  were  in  plain  sight. 

There  was  a  great  and  unexpected  mildness  of  temperature 
for  one  or  two  days,  and  the  thermometer  indicated  for  several 
hours  as  high  as  20°  above  zero,  very  warm  in  comparison  with 
what  we  had  had.  General  Crook  and  the  half-breeds  adopted 
a  plan  of  making  themselves  comfortable  which  was  generally 
imitated  by  their  comrades.  As  soon  as  possible  after  coming 
into  camp,  they  would  sweep  clear  of  snow  the  piece  of  ground 
upon  which  they  intended  making  down  their  blankets  for  the 
night ;  a  fire  would  next  be  built  and  allowed  to  burn  fiercely  for 
an  hour,  or  as  much  longer  as  possible.  When  the  embers  had 
been  brushed  away  and  the  canvas  and  blankets  spread  out,  the 
warmth  under  the  sleeper  was  astonishingly  comfortable.  Our 
pack-mules,  too,  showed  an  amazing  amount  of  intelligence.  I 
have  alluded  to  the  great  trouble  and  danger  experienced  in  getting 
them  and  our  horses  across  the  different  " draws"  or  "coulees" 
impeding  the  march.  The  pack-mules,  of  their  own  motion, 


VICISSITUDES  OF  THE  MARCH.  267 

decided  that  they  would  get  down  without  being  a  source  of 
solicitude  to  those  in  charge  of  them  ;  nothing  was  more  amusing 
than  to  see  some  old  patriarch  of  the  train  approach  the  glassy 
ramp  leading  to  the  bottom  of  the  ravine,  adjust  his  hind  feet 
close  together  and  slide  in  triumph  with  his  load  secure  on  his 
back.  This  came  near  raising  a  terrible  row  among  the  packers, 
who,  in  the  absence  of  other  topics  of  conversation,  began  to  dis 
pute  concerning  the  amount  of  sense  or  "savey"  exhibited  by 
their  respective  pets.  One  cold  afternoon  it  looked  as  if  the 
enthusiastic  champions  of  the  respective  claims  of  " Pinto  Jim" 
and  "Keno"  would  draw  their  knives  on  each  other,  but  the 
affair  quieted  down  without  bloodshed.  Only  one  mule  had  been 
injured  during  this  kind  of  marching  and  sliding — one  broke  its 
back  while  descending  an  icy  ravine  leading  to  the  "  Clear  Fork" 
of  the  Powder. 

Not  many  moments  were  lost  after  getting  into  bivouac  before 
all  would  be  in  what  sailors  call  "ship  shape."  Companies 
would  take  the  positions  assigned  them,  mounted  vedettes  would 
be  at  once  thrown  out  on  the  nearest  commanding  hills,  horses 
unsaddled  and  led  to  the  grazing-grounds,  mules  unpacked  and 
driven  after,  and  wood  and  water  collected  in  quantities  for  the 
cooks,  whose  enormous  pots  of  beans  and  coffee  would  exhale  a 
most  tempting  aroma.  After  eating  dinner  or  supper,  as  you 
please,  soldiers,  packers,  and  officers  would  gather  around  the 
fires,  and  in  groups  discuss  the  happenings  of  the  day  and  the 
probabilities  of  the  future.  The  Spaniards  have  a  proverb  which 
may  be  translated — "  A  man  with  a  good  dinner  inside  of  him 
looks  upon  the  world  through  rosy  spectacles  "  : 
' '  Barriga  llena, 
Corazon  contento." 

There  was  less  doubt  expressed  of  our  catching  Indians  ;  the 
evidences  of  their  presence  were  too  tangible  to  admit  of  any  am 
biguity,  and  all  felt  now  that  we  should  run  in  upon  a  party  of 
considerable  size  unless  they  had  all  withdrawn  to  the  north  of 
the  Yellowstone.  These  opinions  were  confirmed  by  the  return 
of  Frank  Gruard  with  a  fine  young  mule  which  had  been  left  be 
hind  by  the  Sioux  in  one  of  the  many  villages  occupied  by  them 
along  this  stream-bed ;  the  animal  was  in  fine  condition,  and  its 
abandonment  was  very  good  proof  of  the  abundance  of  stock 
with  which  the  savages  must  be  blessed. 


268          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

This  is  how  General  Crook  appeared  on  this  occasion,  as  I  find 
recorded  in  my  notes  :  boots,  of  Government  pattern,  number 
7 ;  trousers,  of  brown  corduroy,  badly  burned  at  the  ends ;  shirt, 
of  brown,  heavy  woollen  ;  blouse,  of  the  old  army  style  ;  hat,  a 
brown  Kossuth  of  felt,  ventilated  at  top.  An  old  army  over 
coat,  lined  with  red  flannel,  and  provided  with  a  high  collar 
made  of  the  skin  of  a  wolf  shot  by  the  general  himself,  completed 
his  costume,  excepting  a  leather  belt  with  forty  or  fifty  copper 
cartridges,  held  to  the  shoulders  by  two  leather  straps.  His  horse 
and  saddle  were  alike  good,  and  with  his  rifle  were  well  cared  for. 

The  General  in  height  was  about  six  feet — even,  perhaps,  a  trifle 
taller;  weight,  one  hundred  and  seventy  pounds;  build,  spare 
and  straight ;  limbs,  long  and  sinewy ;  complexion,  nervo-san- 
guine  ;  hair,  light-brown ;  cheeks,  ruddy,  without  being  florid ; 
features,  delicately  and  firmly  chiselled ;  eyes,  blue-gray ;  nose, 
a  pronounced  Roman  and  quite  large  ;  mouth,  mild  but  firm, 
and  showing  with  the  chin  much  resolution  and  tenacity  of 
purpose. 

As  we  halted  for  the  night,  a  small  covey  of  pin-tailed  grouse 
flew  across  the  trail.  Crook,  with  seven  shots  of  his  rifle,  laid  six 
of  them  low,  all  but  one  hit  in  neck  or  head.  This  shooting  was 
very  good,  considering  the  rapidity  with  which  it  had  to  be  done, 
and  also  the  fact  that  the  shooter's  hands  were  numb  from  a  long 
march  in  the  saddle  and  in  the  cold.  These  birds  figured  in  an 
appetizing  stew  at  our  next  breakfast.  We  remained  in  bivouac 
for  a  day  at  the  mouth  of  a  little  stream  which  we  took  to  be 
Pumpkin  Creek,  but  were  not  certain,  the  maps  being  unreli 
able  ;  here  was  another  abandoned  village  of  the  Sioux  in  which 
we  came  across  a  ghastly  token  of  human  habitancy,  in  the  half- 
decomposed  arm  of  an  Indian,  amputated  at  the  elbow-joint,  two 
fingers  missing,  and  five  buckshot  fired  into  it.  The  guides  con 
jectured  that  it  was  part  of  the  anatomy  of  a  Crow  warrior  who 
had  been  caught  by  the  Sioux  in  some  raid  upon  their  herds  and 
cut  limb  from  limb. 

The  forest  of  cottonwoods  at  this  place  was  very  dense,  and 
the  trees  of  enormous  size.  Upon  the  inner  bark  of  a  number, 
the  Sioux  had  delineated  in  colors  many  scenes  which  were  not 
comprehensible  to  us.  There  were  acres  of  fuel  lying  around  us, 
and  we  made  liberal  use  of  the  cottonwood  ashes  to  boil  a  pot  of 
hominy  with  corn  from  the  pack  train.  Half  a  dozen  old  buf- 


THE  TRAIL  GETTING  WARM.  269 

faloes  were  seen  close  to  camp  during  the  day,  one  of  which  ani 
mals  was  shot  by  General  Crook.  When  our  guides  returned 
from  the  Yellowstone,  they  brought  with  them  the  carcasses  of  six 
deer,  five  white-tailed  and  one  black-tailed,  which  were  most  ac 
ceptable  to  the  soldiers.  All  the  trails  seen  by  this  reconnoitring 
party  had  led  over  towards  the  Powder  River,  none  being  found 
in  the  open  valley  of  the  Yellowstone.  The  Sioux  and  Chey- 
ennes  would  naturally  prefer  to  make  their  winter  habitations  in 
the  deeper  and  therefore  warmer  cafions  of  the  Rosebud,  Tongue, 
and  Powder,  where  the  winds  could  not  reach  them  and  their 
stock.  The  country  hereabouts  was  extremely  rough,  and  the 
bluffs  were  in  many  places  not  less  than  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  in  height  above  the  surface  of  the  stream.  It  had  again  be 
come  cold  and  stormy,  and  snow  was  falling,  with  gusts  of  wind 
from  the  north.  The  mercury  during  the  night  indicated  10° 
below  zero,  but  the  sky  with  the  coquetry  of  a  witch  had  resumed 
its  toilet  of  blue  pinned  with  golden  stars.  Our  course  led 
north  and  east  to  look  for  some  of  the  trails  of  recent  date  ;  the 
valleys  of  the  creeks  seemed  to  be  adapted  for  agriculture,  and 
our  horses  did  very  well  on  the  rich  herbage  of  the  lower  foot 
hills.  The  mountains  between  the  Tongue  and  the  Powder,  and 
those  between  the  Tongue  and  the  Rosebud  as  well,  are  covered 
with  forests  of  pine  and  juniper,  and  the  country  resembles  in 
not  a  little  the  beautiful  Black  Hills  of  Dakota. 

This  was  the  16th  of  March,  and  we  had  not  proceeded  many 
miles  before  our  advance,  under  Colonel  Stanton,  had  sighted  and 
pursued  two  young  bucks  who  had  been  out  hunting  for  game, 
and,  seeing  our  column  advancing,  had  stationed  themselves 
upon  the  summit  of  a  ridge,  and  were  watching  our  movements. 
Crook  ordered  the  command  to  halt  and  bivouac  at  that  point  on 
the  creek  which  we  had  reached.  Coffee  was  made  for  all  hands, 
and  then  the  purposes  of  the  general  commanding  made  them 
selves  known.  He  wanted  the  young  Indians  to  think  that  we 
were  a  column  making  its  way  down  towards  the  Yellowstone  with 
no  intention  of  following  their  trail ;  then,  with  the  setting  of  the 
sun,  or  a  trifle  sooner,  we  were  to  start  ont'and  march  all  night  in 
the  hope  of  striking  the  band  to  which  the  young  men  belonged, 
and  which  must  be  over  on  the  Powder  as  there  was  no  water 
nearer  in  quantity  sufficient  for  ponies  and  families.  The  day  had 
been  very  blustering  and  chilly,  with  snow  clouds  lowering  over  us. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

THE  ATTACK  UPON  CRAZY  HORSED  VILLAGE  —  THE  BLEAK  NIGHT 
MARCH  ACROSS  THE  MOUNTAINS  —  EGAN^S  CHARGE  THROUGH 
THE  TILLAGE  —  STANTON  AND  MILLS  AND  SIBLEY  TO  THF 
RESCUE  —  THE  BURNING  LODGES  —  MEN  FROZEN  —  THE  WEALTH 
OF  THE  VILLAGE  —  RETREATING  TO  LODGE  POLE  CREEK  —  CROOK 
REJOINS  US  —  CUTTING  THE  THROATS  OF  CAPTURED  PONIES. 


ENERAL  CROOK  directed  General  J.  J.  Reynolds,  Third 
Cavalry,  to  take  six  companies  of  cavalry,  and,  with  the 
half-breed  scouts,  make  a  forced  march  along  the  trail  of  the 
hunters,  and  see  just  what  he  could  find.  If  the  trail  led  to  a 
village,  Reynolds  should  attack  ;  if  not,  the  two  portions  of  the 
command  were  to  unite  on  the  Powder  at  or  near  a  point  desig 
nated.  Crook  was  very  kindly  disposed  towards  General  Rey 
nolds,  and  wanted  to  give  him  every  chance  to  make  a  brilliant 
reputation  for  himself  and  retrieve  the  past.  Reynolds  had  been 
in  some  kind  of  trouble  in  the  Department  of  Texas,  of  which  he 
had  been  the  commander,  and  as  a  consequence  of  this  trouble, 
whatever  it  was,  had  been  relieved  of  the  command  and  ordered 
to  rejoin  his  regiment.  We  were  out  on  the  trail  by  half  -past 
five  in  the  afternoon,  and  marched  rapidly  up  a  steep  ravine, 
which  must  have  been  either  Otter  or  Pumpkin  Creek,  and  about 
half-past  two  in  the  morning  of  March  17,  1876,  were  able  to 
discern  through  the  darkness  the  bluffs  on  the  eastern  side  of 
the  Big  Powder  ;  the  night  was  very  cold,  the  wind  blew  keenly 
and  without  intermission,  and  there  were  flurries  of  snow  which 
searched  out  the  tender  spots  left  in  our  faces. 

It  was  of  course  impossible  to  learn  much  of  the  configuration 
and  character  of  the  country  in  such  darkness  and  under  such 
circumstances,  but  we  could  see  that  it  was  largely  of  the  kind 
called  in  Arizona  "rolling  mesa/'  and  that  the  northern  exposure 
of  the  hills  was  plentifully  covered  with  pine  and  juniper,  while 
grass  was  in  ample  quantity,  and  generally  of  the  best  quality  of 


HARDSHIPS  OF  THE  HORSES.  271 

grama.  Stanton  led  the  advance,  having  Frank  G-ruard  and  one 
or  two  assistants  trailing  in  the  front.  The  work  was  excellently 
well  done,  quite  as  good  as  the  best  I  had  ever  seen  done  by  the 
Apaches.  Stanton,  Mr.  Robert  E.  Strahorn,  Hospital  Steward 
Bryan,  and  myself  made  a  small  party  and  kept  together ;  we 
were  the  only  white  men  along  not  connected  with  the  reserva 
tions. 

This  march  bore  grievously  upon  the  horses ;  there  were  so 
many  little  ravines  and  gullies,  dozens  of  them  not  more  than 
three  or  four  feet  in  depth,  which  gashed  the  face  of  nature  and 
intersected  the  course  we  were  pursuing  in  so  many  and  such  un 
expected  places,  that  we  were  constantly  halting  to  allow  of  an 
examination  being  made  to  determine  the  most  suitable  places 
for  crossing,  without  running  the  risk  of  breaking  our  own  or 
our  horses'  necks.  The  ground  was  just  as  slippery  as  glass,  and 
so  uneven  that  when  on  foot  we  were  continually  falling,  and 
when  on  horseback  were  in  dread  of  being  thrown  and  of  having 
our  horses  fall  upon  us,  as  had  already  happened  in  one  case  on 
the  trip.  To  stagger  and  slip,  wrenching  fetlocks  and  pasterns, 
was  a  strain  to  which  no  animals  could  be  subjected  for  much 
time  without  receiving  grave  injuries.  Our  horses  seemed  to 
enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  occasion,  and  when  the  trail  was  at  all 
decent  would  press  forward  on  the  bit  without  touch  of  spur. 
When  Frank  Gruard  had  sighted  the  bluffs  of  the  Powder,  the 
command  halted  in  a  deep  ravine,  while  Frank  and  a  picked 
detail  went  out  in  front  some  distance  to  reconnoitre.  The 
intense  cold  had  made  the  horses  impatient,  and  they  were 
champing  on  the  bits  and  pawing  the  ground  with  their  hoofs  in 
a  manner  calculated  to  arouse  the  attention  of  an  enemy,  should 
one  happen  to  be  in  the  vicinity.  They  were  suffering  greatly 
for  water ;  the  ice  king  had  set  his  seal  upon  all  the  streams 
during  the  past  week,  and  the  thickness  of  the  covering  seen  was 
from  two  and  a  half  to  three  feet.  This  thirst  made  them  all  the 
more  restless  and  nervous.  While  we  halted  in  this  ravine,  many 
of  the  men  lay  down  to  sleep,  much  to  the  alarm  of  the  officers, 
who,  in  fear  that  they  would  not  awaken  again,  began  to  shake 
and  kick  them  back  to  wakefulness. 

By  looking  up  at  the  "Dipper"  we  could  see  that  we  were 
travelling  almost  due  east,  and  when  our  scouts  returned  they 
brought  the  important  information  that  the  two  Indians  whom 


272  ON   THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

we  had  been  following  had  been  members  of  a  hunting  party  of 
forty,  mounted,  whose  trail  we  were  now  upon.  Frank  led  off  at 
a  smart  pace,  and  we  moved  as  fast  as  we  could  in  rear  ;  the  mists 
and  clouds  of  night  were  breaking,  and  a  faint  sign  in  the  east 
told  the  glad  news -that  dawn  was  coming.  Directly  in  front  of 
us  and  at  a  very  short  distance  away,  a  dense  column  of  smoke 
betrayed  the  existence  of  a  village  of  considerable  size,  and  we 
were  making  all  due  preparations  to  attack  it  when,  for  the  sec 
ond  time,  Frank  returned  with  the  information  that  the  smoke 
came  from  one  of  the  burning  coal-measures  of  which  Montana 
and  Wyoming  were  full.  Our  disappointment  was  merely  tern, 
porary;  we  had  not  begun  fairly  to  growl  at  our  luck  before 
Frank  returned  in  a  most  gleeful  mood,  announcing  that  the  vil 
lage  had  been  sighted,  and  that  it  was  a  big  one  at  the  base  of  the 
high  cliffs  upon  which  we  were  standing. 

The  plan  of  battle  was  after  this  manner  :  Reynolds  had  three 
battalions,  commanded  respectively  by  Moore,  Mills,  and  Noyes. 
Noyes's  battalion  was  to  make  the  first  move,  Egan's  company, 
with  its  revolvers,  charging  in  upon  the  village,  and  Noyes  cut 
ting  out  and  driving  off  the  enemy's  herd  of  ponies.  Mills  was 
to  move  in  rear  of  Noyes,  and,  after  the  village  had  been  charged, 
move  into  and  take  possession  of  it,  occupy  the  plum  thicket 
surrounding  it,  and  destroy  all  the  ( '  tepis "  and  plunder  of  all 
kinds.  These  battalions  were  to  descend  into  the  valley  of  the 
Powder  through  a  ravine  on  our  right  flank,  while  Moore  with 
his  two  companies  was  to  move  to  the  left  and  take  up  a  position 
upon  the  hills  overlooking  the  village,  and  receive  the  flying  In 
dians  with  a  shower  of  lead  when  they  started  to  flee  from  their 
lodges,  and  attempted  to  get  positions  in  the  brakes  or  bluffs  to 
annoy  Egan. 

Noyes  led  off  with  his  own  and  Egan's  companies,  and  Frank 
Gruard,  "Big  Bat,"  and  others  of  the  scouts  showing  the  path 
down  the  ravine  ;  the  descent  was  a  work  of  herculean  difficulty 
for  some  of  the  party,  as  the  horses  slipped  and  stumbled  over  the 
icy  ground,  or  pressed  through  the  underbrush  and  fallen  rocks 
and  timber.  At  length  we  reached  the  narrow  valley  of  the  Pow 
der,  and  all  hands  were  impatient  to  begin  the  charge  at  once. 
This,  Major  Noyes  would  not  allow  ;  he  sent  Gruard,  "Big  Bat/' 
and  "  Little  Bat"  to  the  front  to  look  at  the  ground  and  report 
whether  or  not  it  was  gashed  by  any  ravines  which  would  render 


CHARGING  THE  VILLAGE.  973 

the  advance  of  cavalry  difficult.  Their  report  was  favorable, 
nothing  being  seen  to  occasion  fear  that  a  mounted  force  could 
not  approach  quite  close  to  the  lodges.  It  was  a  critical  moment, 
as  Frank  indicated  where  the  Indian  boys  were  getting  ready  to 
drive  the  herds  of  ponies  down  to  water,  which  meant  that  the 
village  would  soon  be  fully  aroused.  At  last  we  were  off,  a  small 
band  of  forty-seven  all  told,  including  the  brave  "  Teddy  "  Egan 
himself,  Mr.  Strahorn,  the  representative  of  the  Rocky  Moun 
tain  News,  a  man  who  displayed  plenty  of  pluck  during  the 
entire  campaign,  Hospital  Steward  Bryan,  and  myself.  We  moved 
out  from  the  gulch  in  column  of  twos,  Egan  at  the  head ;  but 
upon  entering  the  main  valley  the  command  "  Left  front  into 
line  "  was  given,  and  the  little  company  formed  a  beautiful  line 
in  less  time  than  it  takes  to  narrate  it.  We  moved  at  a  fast 
walk,  and  as  soon  as  the  command  "  Charge  "  should  be  given, 
we  were  to  quicken  the  gait  to  a  trot,  but  not  move  faster  on 
account  of  the  weak  condition  of  our  stock.  When  the  end  of 
the  village  was  reached  we  were  to  charge  at  full  gallop  down 
through  the  lines  of  "tepis,"  firing  our  revolvers  at  everything 
in  sight ;  but  if  unable  to  storm  the  village,  we  were  to  wheel 
about  and  charge  back.  Just  as  we  approached  the  edge  of  the 
village  we  came  upon  a  ravine  some  ten  feet  in  depth  and  of  a  vary 
ing  width,  the  average  being  not  less  than  fifty.  We  got  down  this 
deliberately,  and  at  the  bottom  and  behind  a  stump  saw  a  young 
boy  about  fifteen  years  old  driving  his  ponies.  He  was  not  ten 
feet  off.  The  youngster  wrapped  his  blanket  about  him  and  stood 
like  a  statue  of  bronze,  waiting  for  the  fatal  bullet ;  his  features 
were  as  immobile  as  if  cut  in  stone.  The  American  Indian 
knows  how  to  die  with  as  much  stoicism  as  the  East  Indian.  I 
levelled  my  pistol.  " Don't  shoot/7  said  Egan,  "we  must  make 
no  noise."  We  were  up  on  the  bench  upon  which  the  village 
stood,  and  the  war-whoop  of  the  youngster  was  ringing  wildly  in 
the  winter  air,  awakening  the  echoes  of  the  bald-faced  bluffs. 
The  lodges  were  not  arranged  in  any  order,  but  placed  where 
each  could  secure  the  greatest  amount  of  protection  from  the  con 
figuration  of  the  coves  and  nooks  amid  the  rocks.  The  ponies 
close  to  the  village  trotted  off  slowly  to  the  right  and  left  as  we 
drew  near  ;  the  dogs  barked  and  howled  and  scurried  out  of  sight ; 
a  squaw  raised  the  door  of  her  lodge,  and  seeing  the  enemy  yelled 
with  all  her  strength,  but  as  yet  there  had  been  not  one  shot  fired. 
18 


274          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

We  had  emerged  from  the  clump  of  cottonwoods  and  the  thick 
undergrowth  of  plum  bushes  immediately  alongside  of  the  nearest 
' '  tepis,"  when  the  report  of  the  first  Winchester  and  the  zipp  of 
the  first  bullet  notified  us  that  the  fun  had  began. 

The  enemy  started  out  from  their  lodges,  running  for  the 
rocky  bluffs  overlooking  the  valley,  there  to  take  position,  but 
turning  to  let  us  have  the  benefit  of  a  shot  every  moment  or  so. 
We  could  not  see  much  at  which  to  fire,  the  "tepis"  interven 
ing,  but  we  kept  on  our  way  through  the  village,  satisfied  that 
the  flight  of  the  hostiles  would  be  intercepted  by  Moore  from  his 
place  upon  the  hills.  The  Indians  did  not  shoot  at  our  men, 
they  knew  a  trick  worth  two  of  that :  they  fired  deliberately  at 
our  horses,  with  the  intention  of  wounding  some  of  them  and 
rendering  the  whole  line  unmanageable.  The  first  shot  struck 
the  horse  of  the  troop  blacksmith  in  the  intestines,  and  made  him 
rear  and  plunge  and  fall  over  backwards.  That  meant  that  both 
horse  and  man  were  hors  du  combat  until  the  latter  could  extri 
cate  himself,  or  be  extricated  from  under  the  dying,  terrified 
animal.  The  second  bullet  struck  the  horse  of  Steward  Bryan  in 
the  head,  and  knocked  out  both  his  eyes  ;  as  his  steed  stiffened  in 
death,  Bryan,  who  was  riding  next  to  me,  called  out,  "  There  is 
something  the  matter  with  my  horse  ! "  The  third  missile  was 
aimed  at  f(  Teddy  "  Egan,  but  missed  him  and  cut  the  bridle  of 
my  old  plug  as  clean  as  if  it  had  been  a  piece  of  tissue  paper. 
From  that  on  the  fire  became  a  volley,  although  the  people  of  the 
village  were  retreating  to  a  place  of  safety  for  their  women  and 
children. 

The  herd  of  ponies  had  been  "  cut  out,"  and  they  were  now 
afoot  unless  they  could  manage  to  recapture  them.  Two  or 
three  boys  made  an  attempt  to  sneak  around  on  our  right  flank 
and  run  the  herd  back  up  among  the  high  bluffs,  where  they 
would  be  practically  safe  from  our  hands.  This  was  frustrated 
by  Egan,  who  covered  the  line  of  approach  with  his  fire,  and  had 
the  herd  driven  slightly  to  our  rear.  The  advantages,  however, 
were  altogether  on  the  side  of  the  Sioux  and  Cheyennes,  as  our 
promised  support  did  not  arrive  as  soon  as  expected,  and  the  fire 
had  begun  to  tell  upon  us  ;  we  had  had  three  men  wounded,  one 
in  the  lower  part  of  the  lungs,  one  in  the  elbow-joint,  and  one  in 
the  collar-bone  or  upper  part  of  the  chest;  six  horses  had  been 
killed  and  three  wounded,  one  of  the  latter  being  Egan's  own, 


REINFORCEMENTS  WANTED.  275 

which  had  been  hit  in  the  neck.  The  men  wounded  were  not 
the  men  on  the  wounded  horses,  so  that  at  this  early  stage  of  the 
skirmish  we  had  one-fourth  of  our  strength  disabled.  We  held 
on  to  the  village  as  far  as  the  centre,  but  the  Indians,  seeing  how 
feeble  was  our  force,  rallied,  and  made  a  bold  attempt  to  surround 
and  cut  us  off.  At  this  moment  private  Schneider  was  killed. 
Egan  was  obliged  to  dismount  the  company  and  take  shelter  in 
the  plum  copse  along  the  border  of  the  ice-locked  channel  of  the 
Powder,  and  there  defend  himself  to  the  best  of  his  ability  until 
the  arrival  of  the  promised  reinforcements. 

Noyes  had  moved  up  promptly  in  our  rear  and  driven  off  the 
herd  of  ponies,  which  was  afterwards  found  to  number  over  seven 
hundred ;  had  he  charged  in  echelon  on  our  left,  he  would  have 
swept  the  village,  and  affairs  would  have  had  a  very  different 
ending,  but  he  complied  with  his  instructions,  and  did  his  part 
as  directed  by  his  commander.  In  the  work  of  securing  the  herd 
of  ponies,  he  was  assisted  by  the  half-breed  scouts. 

Colonel  Stanton  and  Lieutenant  Sibley,  hearing  the  constant 
and  heavy  firing  in  front,  moved  up  without  orders,  leading  a 
small  party  of  the  scouts,  and  opened  an  effective  fire  on  our  left. 
Half  an  hour  had  passed,  and  Moore  had  not  been  heard  from  ; 
the  Indians  under  the  fire  from  Stanton  and  Sibley  on  our  left, 
and  Egan/s  own  fire,  had  retired  to  the  rocks  on  the  other  side  of 
the  "  tepis,"  whence  they  kept  plugging  away  at  any  one  who 
made  himself  visible.  They  were  in  the  very  place  where  it  was 
expected  that  Moore  was  to  catch  them,  but  not  a  shot  was  heard 
for  many  minutes  ;  and  when  they  were  it  was  no  help  to  us,  but  a 
detriment  and  a  danger,  as  the  battalion  upon  which  we  relied  so 
much  had  occupied  an  entirely  different  place — one  from  which 
the  fight  could  not  be  seen  at  all,  and  from  which  the  bullets 
dropped  into  Egan's  lines. 

Mills  advanced  on  foot,  passing  by  Egan's  left,  but  not  joining 
him,  pushed  out  from  among  the  lodges  the  scattering  parties 
still  lurking  there,  and  held  the  undergrowth  on  the  far  side ; 
after  posting  his  men  advantageously,  he  detailed  a  strong  party 
to  burn  and  destroy  the  village.  Egan  established  his  men  on 
the  right,  and  sent  a  party  to  aid  in  the  work  of  demolition  and 
destruction.  It  was  then  found  that  a  great  many  of  our  people 
had  been  severely  hurt  by  the  intense  cold.  In  order  to  make 
the  charge  as  effective  as  possible,  we  had  disrobed  and  thrown 


276          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

to  one  side,  upon  entering  the  village,  all  the  heavy  or  cumbrous 
wraps  with  which  we  could  dispense.  The  disagreeable  conse 
quence  was  that  many  men  had  feet  and  fingers,  ears  and  noses 
frozen,  among  them  being  Lieutenant  Hall  and  myself.  Hall 
had  had  much  previous  experience  in  the  polar  climate  of  these 
northwestern  mountains,  and  showed  me  how  to  treat  myself  to 
prevent  permanent  disability. 

He  found  an  air-hole  in  the  ice,  into  which  we  thrust  feet  and 
hands,  after  which  we  rubbed  them  with  an  old  piece  of  gunny- 
sack,  the  roughest  thing  we  could  find,  to  restore  circulation. 
Steward  Bryan,  who  seemed  to  be  full  of  resources  and  forethought, 
had  carried  along  with  him  a  bottle  of  tincture  of  iodine  for 
just  such  emergencies  ;  this  he  applied  liberally  to  our  feet  and 
to  all  the  other  frozen  limbs,  and  thus  averted  several  cases  of 
amputation.  While  Steward  Bryan  was  engaged  in  his  work  of 
mercy,  attending  to  the  wounded  and  the  frozen,  Mills's  and 
Egan's  detachments  were  busy  setting  fire  to  the  lodges,  of  elk 
and  buffalo  hide  and  canvas,  which  numbered  over  one  hundred. 

For  the  information  of  readers  who  may  never  have  seen  such 
lodges  or  "tepis,"  as  they  are  called  in  the  language  of  the 
frontier,  I  will  say  that  they  are  large  tents,  supported  upon  a 
conical  frame-work  of  fir  or  ash  poles  about  twenty  feet  long, 
spread  out  at  the  bottom  so  as  to  give  an  interior  space  with  a 
diameter  of  from  eighteen  to  twenty-five  feet.  This  is  the  aver 
age  size,  but  in  each  large  village,  like  the  present  one,  was  to  be 
found  one  or  more  very  commodious  lodges  intended  for  the  use 
of  the  " council "  or  for  the  ceremonies  of  the  "  medicine" 
bands  ;  there  were  likewise  smaller  ones  appropriated  to  the  use 
of  the  sick  or  of  women  living  in  seclusion.  In  the  present  case, 
the  lodges  would  not  burn,  or,  to  speak  more  explicitly,  they 
exploded  as  soon  as  the  flames  and  heat  had  a  chance  to  act  upon 
the  great  quantities  of  powder  in  kegs  and  canisters  with  which 
they  were  all  supplied.  When  these  loose  kegs  exploded  the 
lodge-poles,  as  thick  as  a  man's  wrist  and  not  less  than  eighteen 
feet  long,  would  go  sailing  like  sky-rockets  up  into  the  air  and 
descend  to  smash  all  obstacles  in  their  way.  It  was  a  great  won 
der  to  me  that  some  of  our  party  did  not  receive  serious  injuries 
from  this  cause. 

In  one  of  the  lodges  was  found  a  wounded  squaw,  who  stated 
that  she  had  been  struck  in  the  thigh  in  the  very  beginning  of 


THE  PLUNDER  OF  THE  LODGES.  277 

the  fight  as  her  husband  was  firing  out  from  the  entrance  to  the 
lodge.  She  stated  that  this  was  the  band  of  "  Crazy  Horse/' 
who  had  with  him  a  force  of  the  Minneconjou  Sioux,  but  that 
the  forty  new  canvas  lodges  clustered  together  at  the  extremity 
by  which  we  had  entered  belonged  to  some  Cheyennes  who  had 
recently  arrived  from  the  "  Red  Cloud  "  Agency.  Two  lodges 
of  Sioux  had  arrived  from  the  same  agency  two  days  previously 
with  the  intention  of  trading  with  the  Minneconjoux. 

What  with  the  cold  threatening  to  freeze  us,  the  explosions  of 
the  lodges  sending  the  poles  whirling  through  the  air,  and  the 
leaden  attentions  which  the  enemy  was  once  more  sending  in 
with  deadly  aim,  our  situation  was  by  no  means  agreeable,  and  I 
may  claim  that  the  notes  jotted  down  in  my  journal  from  which 
this  narrative  is  condensed  were  taken  under  peculiar  embarrass 
ments.  "  Crazy  Horse's  "  village  was  bountifully  provided  with 
all  that  a  savage  could  desire,  and  much  besides  that  a  white 
man  would  not  disdain  to  class  among  the  comforts  of  life. 

There  was  no  great  quantity  of  baled  furs,  which,  no  doubt, 
bad  been  sent  in  to  some  of  the  posts  or  agencies  to  be  traded 
off  for  the  ammunition  on  hand,  but  there  were  many  loose 
robes  of  buffalo,  elk,  bear,  and  beaver ;  many  of  these  skins 
were  of  extra  fine  quality.  Some  of  the  buffalo  robes  were  won- 
drously  embroidered  with  porcupine  quills  and  elaborately  dec 
orated  with  painted  symbolism.  One  immense  elk  skin  was 
found  as  large  as  two  and  a  half  army  blankets ;  it  was  nicely 
tanned  and  elaborately  ornamented.  The  couches  in  all  the 
lodges  were  made  of  these  valuable  furs  and  peltries.  Every 
squaw  and  every  buck  was  provided  with  a  good-sized  valise  of 
tanned  buffalo,  deer,  elk,  or  pony  hide,  gaudily  painted,  and 
filled  with  fine  clothes,  those  of  the  squaws  being  heavily  em 
broidered  with  bead- work.  Each  family  had  similar  trunks  for 
carrying  kitchen  utensils  and  the  various  kinds  of  herbs  that  the 
plains'  tribes  prized  so  highly.  There  were  war-bonnets,  strik 
ingly  beautiful  in  appearance,  formed  of  a  head-band  of  red 
cloth  or  of  beaver  fur,  from  which  depended  another  piece  of 
red  cloth  which  reached  to  the  ground  when  the  wearer  was 
mounted,  and  covered  him  and  the  pony  he  rode.  There  was 
a  crown  of  eagle  feathers,  and  similar  plumage  was  affixed  to 
the  tail-piece.  Bells,  ribbons,  and  other  gew-gaws  were  also 
attached  and  occasionally  I  have  noticed  a  pair  of  buffalo 


278          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

horns,  shaved  down  fine,  surmounting  the  head.  Altogether, 
these  feather  head-dresses  of  the  tribes  in  the  Missouri  drainage 
were  the  most  impressive  and  elegant  thing  to  be  seen  on  the 
border.  They  represented  an  investment  of  considerable  money, 
and  were  highly  treasured  by  the  proud  possessors.  They  were 
not  only  the  indicia  of  wealth,  but  from  the  manner  in  which 
the  feathers  were  placed  and  nicked,  the  style  of  the  ornamen 
tation,  and  other  minute  points  readily  recognizable  by  the  other 
members  of  the  tribe,  all  the  achievements  of  the  wearer  were 
recorded.  One  could  tell  at  a  glance  whether  he  had  ever 
stolen  ponies,  killed  men,  women,  or  children,  been  wounded, 
counted  "  coup,"  or  in  any  other  manner  demonstrated  that  his 
deeds  of  heroism  were  worthy  of  being  chanted  in  the  dances 
and  around  the  camp-fires.  In  each  lodge  there  were  knives 
and  forks,  spoons,  tin  cups,  platters,  mess-pans,  frying-pans, 
pots  and  kettles  of  divers  shapes,  axes,  hatchets,  hunting- 
knives,  water-kegs,  blankets,  pillows,  and  every  conceivable  kind 
of  truck  in  great  profusion.  Of  the  weight  of  dried  and  fresh 
buffalo  meat  and  venison  no  adequate  idea  can  be  given  ;  in 
three  or  four  lodges  I  estimated  that  there  were  not  less  than 
one  thousand  pounds.  As  for  ammunition,  there  was  enough 
for  a  regiment ;  besides  powder,  there  was  pig-lead  with  the 
moulds  for  casting,  metallic  cartridges,  and  percussion  caps. 
One  hundred  and  fifty  saddles  were  given  to  the  flames. 

Mills  and  Egan  were  doing  excellent  work  in  the  village 
itself ;  the  herd  of  ponies  was  in  Noyes's  hands,  and  why  we 
should  not  have  held  our  place  there,  and  if  necessary  fortified 
and  sent  word  to  Crook  to  come  across  the  trail  and  join  us,  is 
one  of  those  things  that  no  man  can  explain.  We  had  lost  three 
killed,  and  had  another  man  wounded  mortally.  General  Rey 
nolds  concluded  suddenly  to  withdraw  from  the  village,  and  the 
movement  was  carried  out  so  precipitately  that  we  practically 
abandoned  the  victory  to  the  savages.  There  were  over  seven 
hundred  ponies,  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  saddles,  tons  upon 
tons  of  meat,  hundreds  of  blankets  and  robes,  and  a  very  appreci 
able  addition  to  our  own  stock  of  ammunition  in  our  hands,  and 
the  enemy  driven  into  the  hills,  while  we  had  Crook  and  his  four 
companies  to  depend  upon  as  a  reserve,  and  yet  we  fell  back  at 
such  a  rate  that  our  dead  were  left  in  the  hands  of  the  Indians, 
and,  as  was  whispered  among  the  men,  one  of  our  poor  soldiers 


CAMP  INHOSPITALITY.  279 

fell  alive  into  the  enemy's  hands  and  was  cut  limb  from  limb.  I 
do  not  state  this  fact  of  my  own  knowledge,  and  I  can  only  say 
that  I  believe  it  to  be  true.  We  pushed  up  the  Powder  as  fast 
as  our  weary  horses  could  be  made  to  move,  and  never  halted 
until  after  we  had  reached  the  mouth  of  Lodge  Pole  Creek, 
where  we  awaited  the  arrival  of  General  Crook. 

The  bivouac  at  the  mouth  of  the  Lodge  Pole  was  especially 
dreary  and  forlorn  ;  the  men  nicknamed  it  "  Camp  Inhospital- 
ity  "  :  there  was  a  sufficiency  of  water — or  ice — enough  wood,  but 
very  little  grass  for  the  animals.  There  was  nothing  to  eat ;  not 
oven  for  the  wounded  men,  of  whom  we  had  six,  who  received 
from  Surgeon  Munn  and  his  valuable  assistant,  Steward  Bryan, 
and  Doctor  Kidgeley  all  the  care  which  it  was  possible  to  give. 
Here  and  there  would  be  found  a  soldier,  or  officer,  or  scout  who 
had  carried  a  handful  of  cracker-crumbs  in  his  saddle-bags, 
another  who  had  had  the  good  sense  to  pick  up  a  piece  of  buffalo 
meat  in  the  village,  or  a  third  who  could  produce  a  spoonful  of 
coffee.  With  these  a  miserable  apology  was  made  for  supper, 
which  was  not  ready  until  very  late  ;  because  the  rear-guard  of 
scouts  and  a  handful  of  soldiers — which,  under  Colonel  Stanton, 
Frank  Gruard,  "Big  Bat/'  and  others,  had  rounded  up  and 
driven  off  the  herd  of  ponies — did  not  join  until  some  time  after 
sundown.  A  small  slice  of  buffalo  meat,  roasted  in  the  ashes, 
went  around  among  five  or  six ;  and  a  cup  of  coffee  would  be 
sipped  like  the  pipe  of  peace  at  an  Indian  council. 

The  men,  being  very  tired  with  the  long  marching,  climbing, 
and  fighting  of  the  past  two  days,  were  put  on  a  "running guard  " 
to  give  each  the  smallest  amount  possible  of  work  and  the  great 
est  of  sleep.  No  guard  was  set  over  the  herd,  and  no  attempt  was 
made  to  protect  it,  and  in  consequence  of  this  great  neglect  the 
Indians,  who  followed  us  during  the  night,  had  not  the  slight 
est  trouble  in  recovering  nearly  all  that  originally  belonged  to 
them.  Even  when  the  loss  was  discovered  and  the  fact  re 
ported  that  the  raiders  were  still  in  sight,  going  over  a  low  bluff 
down  the  valley,  no  attention  was  paid,  and  no  attempt  m-ade  to 
pursue  and  regain  the  mainstay  of  Indian  hostility.  The  cold 
and  exposure  had  begun  to  wear  out  both  horses  and  men,  and 
Doctor  Munn  had  now  all  he  could  do  in  looking  after  the  nu 
merous  cases  of  frost-bite  reported  in  the  command  ;  my  recollec 
tion  is  that  there  were  sixty-six  men  whose  noses,  feet,  or  fingers 


280          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

were  more  or  less  imperilled  by  the  effects  of  the  cold.  Added 
to  these  were  two  cases  of  inflammatory  rheumatism,  which  were 
almost  as  serious  as  those  of  the  wounded  men. 

Crook  reached  camp  about  noon  of  the  18th  of  March,  and  it 
goes  without  saying  that  his  presence  was  equal  to  that  of  a  thou 
sand  men.  He  expressed  his  gratification  upon  hearing  of  our 
successful  finding  of  "Crazy  Horse's"  village,  as  that  chief  was 
justly  regarded  as  the  boldest,  bravest,  and  most  skilful  warrior 
in  the  whole  Sioux  nation  ;  but  he  could  not  conceal  his  disap 
pointment  and  chagrin  when  he  learned  that  our  dead  and  wounded 
had  been  needlessly  abandoned  to  the  enemy,  and  that  with  such 
ample  supplies  of  meat  and  furs  at  hand  our  men  had  been  made 
to  suffer  from  hunger  and  cold,  with  the  additional  fatigue  of  a 
long  march  which  could  have  been  avoided  by  sending  word  to 
him.  Crook,  with  a  detachment  from  the  four  companies  left 
with  him,  had  come  on  a  short  distance  in  advance  of  Hawley's 
and  Dewees's  battalions,  and  run  in  upon  the  rear-guard  of  the 
Cheyennes  and  Sioux  who  had  stampeded  so  many  of  the  ponies 
from  Reynolds's  bivouac ;  the  General  took  sight  at  one  of  the 
Indians  wearing  a  war-bonnet  and  dropped  him  out  of  the  sad 
dle  ;  the  Indian's  comrades  seized  him  and  took  off  through  the 
broken  country,  but  the  pony,  saddle,  buffalo  robe,  blanket,  and 
bonnet  of  the  dead  man  fell  into  our  hands,  together  with  nearly 
a  hundred  of  the  ponies  ;  which  were  driven  along  to  our  forlorn 
camp  at  the  confluence  of  the  Lodge  Pole  and  the  Powder. 

There  was  nothing  for  Crook  to  do  but  abandon  the  expedition, 
and  return  to  the  forts,  and  reorganize  for  a  summer  campaign. 
We  had  no,  beef,  as  our  herd  had  been  run  off  on  account  of  the 
failure  to  guard  it ;  we  were  out  of  supplies,  although  we  had 
destroyed  enough  to  last  a  regiment  for  a  couple  of  months  ;  we 
were  encumbered  with  sick,  wounded,  and  cripples  with  frozen 
limbs,  because  we  had  not  had  sense  enough  to  save  the  furs  and 
robes  in  the  village ;  and  the  enemy  was  thoroughly  aroused,  and 
would  be  on  the  qui  vive  for  all  that  we  did.  To  old  Fort  Reno, 
by  way  of  the  valley  of  the  Powder,  was  not  quite  ninety  miles. 
The  march  was  uneventful,  and  there  was  nothing  to  note  beyond 
the  storms  of  snow  and  wind,  which  lasted,  with  some  spasmodic 
intermissions,  throughout  the  journey.  The  wind  blew  from  the 
south,  and  there  was  a  softening  of  the  ground,  which  aggravated 
the  disagreeable  features  by  adding  mud  to  our  other  troubles. 


KILLING  THE  PONIES.  281 

The  Indians  hung  round  our  camps  every  night,  occasionally 
firing  a  shot  at  our  fires,  but  more  anxious  to  steal  back  their 
ponies  than  to  fight.  To  remove  all  excuse  for  their  presence 
Crook  ordered  that  the  throats  of  the  captured  ponies  be  cut, 
and  this  was  done  on  two  different  nights  :  first,  some  fifty  being 
knocked  in  the  head  with  axes,  or  having  their  throats  cut  with 
the  sharp  knives  of  the  scouts,  and  again,  another  "  bunch  " 
of  fifty  being  shot  before  sun-down.  The  throat-cutting  was 
determined  upon  when  the  enemy  began  firing  in  upon  camp, 
and  was  the  only  means  of  killing  the  ponies  without  danger  to 
our  own  people.  It  was  pathetic  to  hear  the  dismal  trumpeting 
(I  can  find  no  other  word  to  express  my  meaning)  of  the  dying 
creatures,  as  the  breath  of  life  rushed  through  severed  wind 
pipes.  The  Indians  in  the  bluffs  recognized  the  cry,  and  were 
aware  of  what  we  were  doing,  because  with  one  yell  of  defiance 
and  a  parting  volley,  they  left  us  alone  for  the  rest  of  the  night. 

Steaks  were  cut  from  the  slaughtered  ponies  and  broiled  in  the 
ashes  by  the  scouts  ;  many  of  the  officers  and  soldiers  imitated 
their  example.  Prejudice  to  one  side,  the  meat  is  sweet  and 
nourishing,  not  inferior  to  much  of  the  stringy  beef  that  used 
to  find  its  way  to  our  markets. 

Doctor  Munn,  Doctor  Eidgeley,  and  Steward  Bryan  were  kept 
fully  occupied  in  tending  to  the  patients  under  their  charge, 
and  were  more  than  pleased  when  the  wagon-train  was  reached, 
and  "travois"  and  saddles  could  be  exchanged  for  ambulances 
and  wagons. 

Our  reception  by  our  comrades  back  at  the  wagon-train — 
Coates,  Ferris,  and  Mason — was  most  cordial  and  soldier-like. 
The  most  gratifying  proof  of  their  joy  at  our  return  was  found  in 
the  good  warm  supper  of  coffee,  bacon,  and  beans  prepared  for 
every  one  of  our  columns,  commissioned  and  enlisted.  The  ice 
in  the  Powder  proved  very  treacherous,  as  all  "alkali"  ice  will ; 
it  was  not  half  so  thick  as  it  had  been  found  on  the  Tongue, 
where  it  had  ranged  from  two  to  three  feet.  General  Crook  dis 
tributed  the  troops  to  the  various  military  posts,  and  returned 
to  his  headquarters  in  Omaha.  The  conduct  of  certain  officers 
was  the  subject  of  an  investigation  by.  a  general  court-martial, 
but  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  overcrowd  my  pages  with  such  mat 
ters,  which  can  be  readily  looked  up  by  readers  interested  in 
them.  On  our  way  down  to  Cheyenne,  we  encountered  squads 


282          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

upon  squads  of  adventurers,  trudging  on  foot  or  riding  in  wagons 
to  the  Black  Hills.  At  "  Portuguese  Phillip's  "  ranche,  sixty- 
eight  of  these  travellers  had  sat  down  to  supper  in  one  day; 
while  at  Fagan's,  nearer  Cheyenne,  during  the  snow-storm  of 
March  26th  and  27th,  two  hundred  and  fifty  had  slept  in  the 
kitchens,  stables,  and  out-houses. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  SUMMER  CAMPAIGN"  OF  1876 — THE  SIOUX  AND  CHEYENNES 
GETTING  UGLY — RAIDING  THE  SETTLEMENTS — ATTEMPT  TO 
AMBUSCADE  CROOK — KILLLNG  THE  MAIL- RIDER — THE  STORY 
OF  THE'FETTERMAN"  MASSACRE — LAKE  DE  SMET — OUR  FIRST 
THUNDER  STORM — A  SOLDIER'S  BURIAL — THE  SIOUX  ATTACK 
OUR  CAMP  —  TROUT-FISHING  —  BEAR-HUNTING  —  CALAMITY 
JANE — THE  CROW  AND  SHOSHONE  ALLIES  JOIN"  THE  COM 
MAND — THE  WAR  DANCE  AND  MEDICINE  SONG. 

THE  lack  of  cooperation  by  the  troops  in  the  Department  of 
Dakota  had  been  severely  felt ;  such  cooperation  had  been 
promised  and  confidently  expected.  It  needed  no  profoundly 
technical  military  mind  to  see  that  with  two  or  three  strong  col 
umns  in  the  field  seeking  out  the  hostiles,  each  column  able  to 
hold  its  own  against  the  enemy,  the  chances  of  escape  for  the 
Sioux  and  Cheyennes  would  be  materially  lessened,  and  those  of 
success  for  the  operations  of  either  column,  or  both,  perceptibly 
increased.  But,  with  the  exception  of  a  telegram  from  General 
Ouster,  then  at  Fort  Lincoln,  dated  February  27th,  making  in 
quiry  as  to  the  time  fixed  for  the  departure  of  the  column  under 
Reynolds — which  question  was  answered  by  wire  the  same  day — 
nothing  had  been  heard  of  any  column  from  the  Missouri  River 
camps  going  out  after  the  Indians  whom  the  authorities  wished 
to  have  driven  into  the  reservations. 

With  the  opening  of  spring  the  phases  of  the  problem  pre 
sented  greater  complexity.  The  recalcitrant  Indians  were  satis 
fied  of  their  ability  not  only  to  elude  pursuit  but  to  present  a  bold 
front  to  the  troops,  and  to  whip  them  on  the  field  of  their  choice. 
They  had  whipped  us — so  at  least  it  seemed  to  them — on  the  17th 
of  March  ;  why  could  they  not  do  the  same  on  any  other  day — the 
17th  of  May,  or  the  17th  of  August  ?  Crook  determined  to  wait 
for  the  new  grass,  without  which  it  would  be  impossible  to  cam 
paign  far  away  from  the  line  of  supplies,  and  to  let  the  ground 


284          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

become  thoroughly  dry  from  the  early  thaws,  before  he  re 
sumed  the  offensive.  This  would  give  to  such  columns  as  might 
be  designated  in  the  north  as  cooperating  forces  opportun 
ity  to  get  into  the  field ;  as  it  would  also  afford  the  restless 
young  element  on  the  several  reservations  chance  to  deliberate 
between  the  policy  of  peace  and  war,  between  remaining  quiet 
at  the  agencies,  or  starting  out  on  a  career  of  depredation  and 
bloodshed. 

Each  day  came  news,  stoutly  denied  by  the  agents,  that  there 
were  parties  slipping  away  to  recruit  tho  forces  of  the  hostiles  ; 
it  was  only  prudent  to  know  in  advance  exactly  how  many  there 
would  be  in  our  front,  and  have  them  in  our  front  instead  of 
imperilling  our  rear  by  starting  out  with  a  leaven  of  discontent 
which  might  do  grievous  harm  to  the  ranches  and  settlements 
near  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad.  That  the  main  body  of  the 
Sioux  and  Cheyennes  was  "ugly"  no  longer  admitted  of  doubt. 
Hostilities  were  not  limited  to  grumbling  and  growling,  to  surly 
looks  and  ungracious  acts,  to  mere  threats  against  the  agents  or 
some  isolated  ranches  ;  they  became  active  and  venomous,  espe 
cially  along  the  lines  of  travel  leading  to  the  disputed  territory — 
the  (( Black  Hills."  Attacks  upon  trains  were  a  daily — an  hourly 
— occurrence.  In  one  of  these  the  son-in-law  of  "  Red  Cloud  " 
was  killed.  To  defend  these  travellers  there  was  no  better  method 
than  by  carrying  the  war  into  Africa,  and,  by  means  of  swift- 
moving  columns,  come  upon  the  villages  of  the  hostiles  and 
destroy  them,  giving  no  time  to  the  young  men  for  amusements. 

Three  of  the  infantry  companies  from  Fort  Omaha  and  Fort 
Bridger  were  detailed  to  guard  the  road  between  Fort  Laramie 
and  Ouster  City ;  each  company  went  into  an  entrenched  camp 
with  rifle-pits  dug,  and  all  preparations  made  for  withstanding 
a  siege  until  help  should  arrive.  Trains  could  make  their  way 
from  one  to  the  other  of  these  fortified  camps  with  much  less  dan 
ger  than  before  their  establishment,  while  there  were  two  com 
panies  of  cavalry,  under  officers  of  great  experience,  to  patrol  from 
Buffalo  Gap,  at  the  entrance  to  the  hills,  and  the  North  Platte.' 
These  officers  were  Captain  Russell,  who  had  seen  much  service  in 
Arizona  and  New  Mexico  against  the  Apaches,  and  " Teddy" 
Egan,  of  the  Second  Cavalry,  who  had  led  the  charge  into  the 
village  of  "  Crazy  Horse"  on  St.  Patrick's  Day.  Both  of  these 
officers  and  their  troops  did  all  that  Crook  expected  of  them,  and 


ATTACKS  ALL  ALONG  THE  LINE.  285 

that  was  a  great  deal.  The  same  praise  belongs  to  the  little  de 
tachments  of  infantry,  who  rendered  yeoman  service.  Egan  was 
fortunate  enough  to  come  up  just  in  the  nick  of  time,  as  a  train 
was  surrounded  and  fired  upon  by  six  hundred  warriors  ;  he  led 
the  charge,  and  the  Indians  took  to  flight. 

There  were  attacks  all  along  the  line  :  eastward  in  Nebraska, 
the  Sioux  became  very  bold,  and  raided  the  horse  and  cattle 
ranches  in  the  Loup  Valley  ;  they  were  pursued  by  Lieutenant 
Charles  Heyl,  Twenty-third  Infantry,  with  a  small  detail  of  men 
mounted  upon  mules  from  the  quartermaster's  corral,  and  com 
pelled  to  stand  and  fight,  dropping  their  plunder,  having  one  of 
their  number  killed,  but  killing  one  of  our  best  men — Corporal 
Dougherty.  In  Wyoming,  they  raided  the  Chug,  and  there 
killed  one  of  the  old  settlers — Huntoon — and  ran  off  thirty-two 
horses.  Lieutenant  Allison,  Second  Cavalry,  took  the  trail,  and 
would  have  run  his  prey  down  had  it  not  been  for  a  blinding 
snow-storm  which  suddenly  arose  and  obliterated  the  tracks  of 
the  marauders ;  sufficient  was  learned,  however,  to  satisfy  Alli 
son  that  the  raiders  were  straight  from  the  Eed  Cloud  Agency. 
When  the  body  of  Huntoon  was  found,  it  had  eleven  wounds — 
three  from  arrows.  The  same  or  similar  tales  came  in  from  all 
points  of  the  compass — from  the  villages  of  the  friendly  Sho- 
shones  and  Bannocks  in  the  Wind  Eiver  Mountains  to  the  scat 
tered  homes  on  the  Lodge  Pole  and  the  Frenchman. 

A  large  number  of  the  enlisted  men  belonging  to  the  compa 
nies  at  Fort  D.  A.  Russell  (near  Cheyenne,  Wyoming)  deserted, 
alleging  as  a  reason  that  they  did  not  care  to  serve  under  officers 
who  would  abandon  their  dead  and  dying  to  the  foe.  Every  avail 
able  man  of  the  mounted  service  in  the  Department  of  the  Platte 
was  called  into  requisition  for  this  campaign  ;  the  posts  which 
had  been  garrisoned  by  them  were  occupied  by  infantry  compa 
nies  sent  from  Omaha,  Salt  Lake,  and  elsewhere.  The  point  of 
concentration  was  Fort  Fetterman,  and  the  date  set  as  early  as 
practicable  after  the  first  day  of  May.  Two  other  strong  columns 
were  also  to  take  the  field — one  under  General  John  Gibbon,  con 
sisting  of  the  troops  from  the  Montana  camps  ;  the  other,  under 
General  Alfred  H.  Terry,  to  start  from  Fort  Lincoln,  and  to  com 
prise  every  man  available  from  the  posts  in  the  eastern  portion  of 
the  Department  of  Dakota.  While  the  different  detachments 
were  marching  to  the  point  of  rendezvous,  Crook  hurried  to  Fort 


286          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Laramie,  and  thence  eastward  to  the  Red  Cloud  Agency  to  hold 
a  conference  with  the  chiefs. 

It  was  during  trips  like  this — while  rolling  over  the  endless 
plains  of  Wyoming,  now  rivalling  the  emerald  in  their  vernal 
splendors — that  General  Crook  was  at  his  best :  a  clear-headed 
thinker,  a  fluent  conversationalist,  and  a  most  pleasant  compan 
ion.  He  expressed  himself  freely  in  regard  to  the  coming  cam 
paign,  but  said  that  while  the  Sioux  and  Cheyennes  were  a 
brave  and  bold  people,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case  they 
would  never  stand  punishment  as  the  Apaches  had  done.  The 
tribes  of  the  plains  had  accumulated  much  property  in  ponies 
and  other  things,  and  the  loss  of  that  would  be  felt  most  deeply. 
Crook  hoped  to  sound  the  chiefs  at  the  Red  Cloud  Agency, 
and  learn  about  where  each  stood  on  the  question  of  peace  or 
hostility ;  he  also  hoped  to  be  able  to  enlist  a  small  contingent  of 
scouts  for  service  with  the  troops.  General  Crook  was  unable  to 
find  the  agent  who  was  absent,  but  in  his  place  he  explained  to 
the  agency  clerk  what  he  wanted.  The  latter  did  all  he  could 
to  prevent  any  of  the  chiefs  from  coming  to  see  General  Crook  ; 
nevertheless,  "Sitting  Bull  of  the  South,"  "Rocky  Bear,"  and 
"  Three  Bears,"  prominent  in  the  tribe,  came  over  to  the  office  of 
the  military  commander,  Major  Jordan,  of  the  Ninth  Infantry, 
and  there  met  Crook,  who  had  with  him  Colonel  Stan  ton,  Colo 
nel  Jordan,  Frank  Gruard,  and  myself.  These  men  spoke  in 
most  favorable  terms  of  the  propositions  laid  down  by  General 
Crook,  and  old  "Sitting  Bull  "  (who,  although  bearing  the  same 
name,  was  as  good  as  the  ff  Sitting  Bull "  was  bad)  assured  Gen 
eral  Crook  that  even  if  no  other  chief  in  the  tribe  assisted,  he 
would  gather  together  thirty-five  or  forty  of  his  young  men  and 
go  with  the  soldiers  to  help  drive  the  hostiles  back  to  their 
reservations. 

Although  frustrated  by  the  machinations  of  underlings  of  the 
Indian  Bureau  at  that  particular  time,  all  these  men  kept  the 
word  then  given,  and  appeared  in  the  campaign  undertaken  later 
on  in  the  fall.  "  Sitting  Bull "  was  too  feeble  to  go  out  in  person, 
but  sent  some  of  his  best  young  men  ;  and  "  Three  Bears  "  and 
"Rocky  Bear"  went  as  they  promised  they  would,  and  were 
among  the  bravest  and  most  active  of  all  the  command,  red  or 
white.  "When  Agent  Hastings  returned  there  seemed  to  be  a 
great  Nchange  in  the  feelings  of  the  Indians,  and  it  was  evident 


APPEARANCE  OF  THE  SIOUX.  287 

that  he  had  done  his  best  to  set  them  against  the  idea  of  helping 
in  the  campaign.  He  expressed  himself  to  the  effect  that  while 
he  would  not  forbid  any  Indian  from  going,  he  would  not  recom 
mend  any  such  movement.  General  Crook  said  that  at  the 
council  where  General  Grant  had  decided  that  the  northern  Sioux 
should  go  upon  their  reservations  or  be  whipped,  there  were  pres 
ent,  Secretary  Chandler,  Assistant  Secretary  Cowan,  Commis 
sioner  Smith,  and  Secretary  Belknap.  The  chiefs  were,  "Red 
Cloud/'  "  Old  Man  afraid  of  his  Horses/'  "  Blue  Horse/'  "  Amer 
ican  Horse,"  "  Little  Wound/'  "Sitting  Bull  of  the  South," and 
"  Rocky  Bear/'  With  Agent  Hastings  were,  Inspector  Yandever, 
and  one  of  the  contractors  for  Indian  supplies,  and  Mr.  R.  E. 
Strahorn.  The  contractor  to  whom  reference  is  here  made  was 
afterwards — in  the  month  of  November,  1878 — convicted  by  a 
Wyoming  court,  .for  frauds  at  this  time,  at  this  Red  Cloud 
Agency,  and  sent  to  the  penitentiary  for  two  years.  Nothing 
came  of  this  part  of  the  conference ;  the  Indians,  acting  under 
bad  advice,  as  we  learned  afterwards,  declined  to  entertain  any 
proposition  of  enlisting  their  people  as  scouts,  and  were  then 
told  by  General  Crook  that  if  they  were  not  willing  to  do  their 
part  in  maintaining  order  among  their  own  people  and  in  their 
own  country,  he  would  telegraph  for  the  Crows,  and  Bannocks, 
and  Shoshones  to  send  down  the  bands  they  had  asked  permis 
sion  to  send. 

The  Sioux  appeared  very  much  better  off  than  any  of  the  tribes 
I  had  seen  until  that  time.  All  of  the  men  wore  loose  trousers 
of  dark  blue  cloth ;  moccasins  of  buck  or  buffalo  skin  covered 
with  bead  work ;  and  were  wrapped  in  Mackinaw  blankets,  dark 
blue  or  black  in  color,  closely  enveloping  the  frame ;  some  of 
these  blankets  were  variegated  by  a  transverse  band  of  bright 
red  cloth  worked  over  with  beads,  while  underneath  appeared 
dark  woollen  shirts.  Strings  of  beads,  shells,  and  brass  rings  en 
circled  each  neck.  The  hair  was  worn  long  but  plain,  the  median 
line  painted  with  vermilion  or  red  ochre.  Their  faces  were  not 
marked  with  paint  of  any  kind,  an  unusual  thing  with  Indians 
in  those  days. 

Smoking  was  done  with  beautiful  pipes  of  the  reddish  ochreous 
stone  called  "  Catlinite,"  brought  from  the  quarries  on  the  Mis 
souri.  The  bowls  were  prolonged  to  allow  the  nicotine  to  flow 
downwards,  and  were  decorated  with  inlaid  silver,  speaking  highly 


288          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

of  the  industrial  capabilities  of  our  aborigines.  The  stem  was  a 
long  reed  or  handle  of  ash,  perforated  and  beautifully  ornamented 
with  feathers  and  porcupine  quills.  Each  smoker  would  take 
three  or  four  whiffs,  and  then  pass  the  pipe  to  the  neighbor  on  his 
left. 

General  Crook  was  grievously  disappointed  at  the  turn  affairs 
had  taken,  but  he  said  nothing  and  kept  his  own  counsel.  Had 
he  obtained  three  or  four  hundred  warriors  from  Red  Cloud  and 
Spotted  Tail  the  hostile  element  would  have  been  reduced  to 
that  extent,  and  the  danger  to  the  feeble  and  poorly  protected 
settlements  along  the  Union  Pacific  lessened  in  the  same  ratio, 
leaving  out  of  consideration  any  possible  value  these  young  men 
might  be  as  scouts  and  trailers,  familiar  with  all  the  haunts  and 
devices  of  the  hostiles.  Be  it  remembered  that  while  these  efforts 
were  going  on,  the  hay  scales  at  the  Red  Cloud  Agency  had  been 
burned,  and  the  government  herds  run  off  from  both  Red  Cloud 
and  Spotted  Tail  Agencies. 

We  left  the  Red  Cloud  Agency  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
and  began  the  ascent  of  the  Valley  of  the  "  White  Earth"  creek. 
After  going  several  miles,  on  looking  back  we  saw  a  great  cloud 
of  signal  smoke  puff  up  from  the  bluffs  back  of  the  Indian 
villages,  but  just  what  sort  of  a  signal  it  was  no  one  in  our  party 
knew.  As  it  happened,  we  had  afe  strong  force,  and  instead  of 
the  usual  escort  of  ten  men  or  less,  with  which  General  Crook 
travelled  from  one  post  or  agency  to  another,  we  had  no  less  than 
sixty-five  men  all  told,  made  up  of  Crook's  own  escort,  the  escort 
of  Paymaster  Stanton,  returning  from  the  pay  trip.  Colonel 
Ludington,  Inspector  General  of  the  Department  of  the  Platte, 
was  also  present  with  his  escort,  returning  from  a  tour  of  inspec 
tion  of  the  troops  and  camps  along  the  northern  border.  A 
dozen  or  more  of  the  ranchers  and  others  living  in  the  country 
had  improved  the  opportunity  to  get  to  the  railroad  with  perfect 
safety,  and  thus  we  were  a  formidable  body.  At  the  head  of  the 
White  Earth  we  halted  alongside  of  a  pretty  spring  to  eat  some 
lunch,  and  there  were  passed  by  the  mail-rider,  a  man  named 
Clark,  who  exchanged  the  compliments  of  the  day,  and  then 
drove  on  toward  the  post  which  he  was  never  to  reach.  He  was 
ambuscaded  and  killed  by  the  band  of  Sioux  who  had  planned  to 
assassinate  Crook  but  were  deterred  by  our  unexpectedly  large 
force,  and,  rather  than  go  without  killing  something,  slaughtered 


CROSSING  THE   PLATTE.  289 

the  poor  mail-rider,  and  drove  off  his  horses.  That  was  the 
meaning  of  the  smoke  puff  at  Red  Cloud  ;  it  was,  as  we  learned 
long  afterwards,  the  signal  to  the  conspirators  that  Crook  and  his 
party  were  leaving  the  post. 

We  passed  through  Laramie  and  on  to  Fetterman  as  fast  as 
horses  and  mules  could  draw  us.  Not  all  the  troops  had  yet 
reached  Fetterman,  the  condition  of  the  road  from  Medicine 
Bow  being  fearfully  bad.  Crook,  after  some  difficulty,  had  a 
cable  ferry  established,  in  working  order.  The  first  day  sixty 
thousand  pounds  of  stores  were  carried  across  the  river ;  the 
second,  one  hundred  thousand  pounds,  besides  soldiers  by  solid 
companies.  Every  wagon  and  nearly  every  mule  and  horse  had 
to  be  carried  over  in  the  same  manner,  because  the  animals 
would  not  approach  the  swift  current  of  the  swollen  Platte  ; 
here  they  showed  more  sense  than  the  men  in  charge  of  them, 
and  seemed  to  know  instinctively  that  the  current  of  the  river 
was  too  strong  to  be  breasted  by  man  or  horse.  One  of  the 
teamsters,  Dill,  fell  into  the  river,  and  was  swept  down  before 
the  eyes  of  scores  of  terrified  spectators  and  drowned.  The  cur 
rent  had  the  velocity  of  a  mill-race,  and  the  depth  was  found  to 
vary  from  ten  to  twelve  feet  close  to  the  shore.  Frank  Gruard 
was  sent  across  the  North  Platte  with  a  small  party  of  scouts 
and  soldiers  to  examine  into  the  condition  of  the  road,  and  while 
out  on  this  duty  came  very  near  being  cut  off  by  a  reconnoitring 
band  of  the  enemy. 

General  Crook  assumed  command  in  General  Orders,  No.  1, 
May  28,  1876.  Colonel  William  B.  Royall,  Third  Cavalry,  was 
assigned  to  the  command  of  the  fifteen  companies  of  cavalry 
forming  part  of  the  expedition,  having  under  him  Colonel 
Alexander  W.  Evans,  commanding  the  ten  companies  of  the 
Third  Cavalry,  and  Major  H.  E.  Noyes,'  commanding  the  five  of 
the  Second  Cavalry. 

Five  companies  of  the  Ninth  and  Fourth  Infantry  were 
placed  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Alexander  Chambers,  of 
the  Fourth  Infantry  ;  Captain  Nickerson  and  Lieutenant' Bo urke 
were  announced  as  Aides-de-Camp  ;  Captain  George  M.  Ran 
dall,  Twenty-third  Infantry,  as  Chief  of  Scouts  ;  Captain  Will 
iam  Stanton  as  Chief  Engineer  Officer ;  Captain  John  V. 
Furey  as  Chief  Quartermaster  ;  First  Lieutenant  John  W. 
Bubb  as  Commissary  of  Subsistence  ;  Assistant  Surgeon  Albert 
19 


290          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Hartsuff  as  Medical  Director.  The  companies  starting  out  on 
this  expedition  and  the  officers  connected  with  them  were  as 
follows:  Company  "A,"  Third  Cavalry,  Lieutenant  Charles 
Morton ;  Company  "  B,"  Third  Cavalry,  Captain  Meinhold, 
Lieutenant  Simpson  ;  Company  "  C,"  Third  Cavalry,  Captain 
Van  Vliet,  Lieutenant  Von  Leuttewitz  ;  Company  "D,"  Third 
Cavalry,  Captain  Guy  V.  Henry,  Lieutenant  W.  W.  Robinson  ; 
Company  "E,"  Third  Cavalry,  Captain  Sutorius  ;  Company 
"F,"  Third  Cavalry,  Lieutenant  B.  Reynolds  ;  Company  "  G," 
Third  Cavalry,  Lieutenant  Emmet  Crawford  ;  Company  "I," 
Third  Cavalry,  Captain  Andrews,  Lieutenants  A.  D.  King  and 
Foster  ;  Company  "  L,"  Third  Cavalry,  Captain  P.  D.  Vroom, 
Lieutenant  Chase  ;  Company  "  M,"  Third  Cavalry,  Captain  An- 
son  Mills  and  Lieutenants  A.  C.  Paul  and  Schwatka  ;  Company 
"A,"  Second  Cavalry,  Captain  Dewees,  Lieutenant  Peirson ; 
Company  "B,"  Second  Cavalry,  Lieutenant  Rawolle ;  Company 
"E,"  Second  Cavalry,  Captain  Wells,  Lieutenant  Sibley  ;  Com 
pany  "I,"  Second  Cavalry,  Captain  H.  E.  Noyes  ;  Company 
"  G/'  Second  Cavalry,  Lieutenants  Swigert  and  Huntington  ; 
Company  "  G,"  Ninth  Infantry,  Captain  Sam  Munson,  Lieu 
tenant  T.  H.  Capron  ;  Company  "H,"  Ninth  Infantry,  Captain 
A.  S.  Burt,  Lieutenant  E.  B.  Robertson  ;  Company  "  G,"  Ninth 
Infantry,  Captain  T.  B.  Burroughs,  Lieutenant  "W".  L.  Carpen 
ter  ;  Company  "D/'  Fourth  Infantry,  Captain  A.  B.  Cain, 
Lieutenant  H.  Seton  ;  Company  "F,"  Fourth  Infantry,  Captain 
Gerard  Luhn. 

Assistant  surgeons  :  Patzki,  Stevens,  and  Powell. 

Chief  of  pack  trains  :  Mr.  Thomas  Moore. 

Chief  of  wagon  trains  :  Mr.  Charles  Russell. 

Guides :  Frank  Gruard,  Louis  Bichaud,  Baptiste  Pourrier 
("  Big  Bat"). 

The  press  of  the  country  was  represented  by  Joseph  Wasson, 
of  the  Press,  Philadelphia,  Tribune,  New  York,  and  Alt  a  Cal 
ifornia,  of  San  Francisco,  California  ;  Robert  E.  Strahorn,  of 
the  Tribune,  Chicago,  Rocky  Mountain  News,  Denver,  Colo 
rado,  Sun,  Cheyenne,  Wyoming,  and  Republican,  Omaha, 
Nebraska ;  John  F.  Finerty,  Times,  Chicago  ;  T.  B.  MacMillan, 
Inter-  Ocean,  Chicago  ;  R.  B.  Davenport,  Herald,  New  York. 

Our  camp  on  the  north  side  of  the  North  Platte  presented 
a  picturesque  appearance,  with  its  long  rows  of  shelter  tents 


\ 

SETTING   OUT  FROM  FORT  FETTERMAN.  291 

arranged  symmetrically  in  a  meadow  bounded  on  three  sides  by 
the  stream  ;  the  herds  of  animals  grazing  or  running  about ;  the 
trains  of  wagons  and  mules  passing  from  point  to  point,  united 
to  form  a  picture  of  animation  and  spirit.  We  had  a  train  of 
one  hundred  and  three  six-mule  wagons,  besides  one  of  hundreds 
of  pack-mules  ;  and  the  work  of  ferriage  became  too  great  for 
mortal  strength,  and  the  ferrymen  were  almost  exhausted  both 
by  their  legitimate  duties  and  by  those  of  mending  and  splicing 
the  boat  and  the  cable  which  were  leaking  or  snapping  several 
times  a  day. 

May  29,  1876,  saw  the  column  moving  out  from  its  camp  in 
front  of  Fort  Fetterman ;  the  long  black  line  of  mounted  men 
stretched  for  more  than  a  mile  with  nothing  to  break  the  sombre- 
ness  of  color  save  the  flashing  of  the  sun's  rays  back  from  car 
bines  and  bridles.  An  undulating  streak  of  white  told  where  the 
wagons  were  already  under  way,  and  a  puff  of  dust  just  in  front 
indicated  the  line  of  march  of  the  infantry  battalion.  As  we 
were  moving  along  the  same  road  described  in  the  campaign  of 
the  winter,  no  further  mention  is  necessary  until  after  passing 
old  Fort  Reno.  Meinhold,  with  two  companies,  was  sent  on  in 
advance  to  reconnoitre  the  country,  and  report  the  state  of  the 
road  as  well  as  any  signs  of  the  proximity  of  large  bands  of  the 
enemy.  Van  Vliet  was  instructed  to  push  ahead,  and  keep  a 
look-out  for  the  Crow  and  Shoshone  scouts  who  had  promised  to 
join  the  command  at  or  near  Eeno.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that 
summer  was  already  with  us,  a  heavy  snow-storm  attacked  the 
column  on  June  1st,  at  the  time  of  our  coming  in  sight  of  the 
Big  Horn  Mountains.  The  day  was  miserably  cold,  water  froze 
in  the  camp-kettles,  and  there  was  much  discomfort  owing  to  the 
keen  wind  blowing  down  from  the  frozen  crests  of  the  Big  Horn. 
From  Reno,  Gruard,  Richaud,  and  "  Big  Bat "  were  sent  to  see 
what  had  become  of  the  Crows,  and  lead  them  back  to  our  com 
mand  on  the  line  of  march. 

Before  he  left  Frank  gave  an  account,  from  the  story  told 
him  by  the  Sioux  who  had  participated  in  it,  of  the  massacre  near 
this  place  of  the  force  of  officers  and  men  enticed  out  from  old 
Fort  Kearney.  In  this  sad  affair  we  lost  three  officers — Fetterman, 
Brown,  and  Grummond — and  seventy-five  enlisted,  with  three 
civilians,  names  unknown.  The  Sioux  admitted  to  Frank  that 
they  had  suffered  to  the  extent  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-five, 


292  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

killed  and  wounded.  I  mention  this  story  here  at  the  place  where 
we  heard  it  from  Frank's  lips,  although  we  afterwards  marched 
over  the  very  spot  where  the  massacre  occurred. 

We  broke  camp  at  a  very  early  hour,  the  infantry  being  out  on 
the  road  by  four  o'clock  each  morning,  the  cavalry  remaining  for 
some  time  later  to  let  the  animals  have  the  benefit  of  the  grass 
freshened  by  the  frost  of  the  night  previous.  We  were  getting 
quite  close  to  Cloud  Peak,  the  loftiest  point  in  the  Big  Horn 
range ;  its  massy  dome  towered  high  in  the  sky,  white  with  a 
mantle  of  snow  ;  here  and  there  a  streak  of  darkness  betrayed 
the  attempts  of  the  tall  pine  trees  on  the  summit  to  penetrate  to 
the  open  air  above  them.  Heavy  belts  of  forest  covered  the  sides 
of  the  range  below  the  snow  line,  and  extended  along  the  skirts 
of  the  foot-hills  well  out  into  the  plains  below.  The  singing  of 
meadow-larks,  and  the  chirping  of  thousands  of  grasshoppers, 
enlivened  the  morning  air ;  and  save  these  no  sound  broke  the 
stillness,  except  the  rumbling  of  wagons  slowly  creeping  along  the 
road.  The  dismal  snow-storm  of  which  so  much  complaint  had 
been  made  was  rapidly  superseded  by  most  charming  weather  : 
a  serene  atmosphere,  balmy  breeze,  and  cloudless  sky  were  the 
assurances  that  summer  had  come  at  last,  and,  as  if  anxious  to 
repair  past  negligence,  was  about  to  favor  us  with  all  its  charms. 
The  country  in  which  we  now  were  was  a  great  grassy  plain  cov 
ered  with  herbage  just  heading  into  seed.  There  was  no  timber 
except  upon  the  spurs  of  the  Big  Horn,  which  loomed  up  on  our 
left  covered  with  heavy  masses  of  pine,  fir,  oak,  and  juniper. 
Prom  the  innumerable  seams  and  gashes  in  the  flanks  of  this 
noble  range  issue  the  feeders  of  the  Tongue  and  Powder,  each 
insignificant  in  itself,  but  so  well  distributed  that  the  country  is 
as  well  adapted  for  pasturage  as  any  in  the  world.  The  bluffs 
are  full  of  coal  of  varying  qualities,  from  lignite  to  a  good  com 
mercial  article  ;  one  of  the  men  of  the  command  brought  in  a 
curious  specimen  of  this  lignite,  which  at  one  end  was  coal  and 
at  the  other  was  silicified.  Buffalo  tracks  and  Indian  signs  were 
becoming  frequent. 

Clear  Creek,  upon  which  we  made  camp,  was  a  beautiful 
stream — fifty  feet  wide,  two  feet  deep  ;  current  rapid  and  as  much 
as  eight  miles  an  hour ;  water  icy-cold  from  the  melting  of  the 
snow-banks  on  the  Big  Horn  ;  bottom  of  gravel ;  banks  gently 
sloping  ;  approaches  good.  Grass  was  oxcellent,  but  fuel  rather 


THE  MONTANA  MINERS'  PARTY.  293 

scarce  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  road.  Birds,  antelope,  and 
fish  began  to  figure  on  the  mess  canvas  ;  the  fish,  a  variety  of 
sucker,  very  palatable,  were  secured  by  shooting  a  bullet  under 
them  and  stunning  them,  so  that  they  rose  to  the  surface,  and 
were  then  seized.  Trout  were  not  yet  found ;  they  appear  in 
the  greatest  quantity  in  the  waters  of  Tongue  Kiver,  the  next 
stream  beyond  to  the  west.  There  is  a  variety  of  tortoise  in  the 
waters  of  these  mountains  which  is  most  toothsome,  and  to  my 
uncultivated  taste  fully  as  good  as  the  Maryland  terrapin. 

Here  we  were  visited  by  messengers  from  a  party  of  Montana 
miners  who  were  travelling  across  country  from  the  Black  Hills 
back  to  the  Yellowstone  ;  the  party  numbered  sixty-five,  and  had 
to  use  every  precaution  to  prevent  stampede  and  surprise  ;  every 
night  they  dug  rifle-pits,  and  surrounded  themselves  with  rocks, 
palisades,  or  anything  else  that  could  be  made  to  resist  a  charge 
from  the  Sioux,  whose  trails  were  becoming  very  thick  and 
plenty.  There  were  many  pony,  but  few  lodge-pole,  tracks,  a 
sure  indication  that  the  men  were  slipping  out  from  Ked  Cloud 
and  Spotted  Tail  agencies  and  uniting  with  the  hostiles,  but 
leaving  their  families  at  home,  under  the  protection  of  the  reser 
vations.  It  always  seemed  to  me  that  that  little  party  of  Mon 
tana  miners  displayed  more  true  grit,  more  common  sense,  and 
more  intelligence  in  their  desperate  march  through  a  scarcely 
known  country  filled  with  hostile  Indians  than  almost  any  simi 
lar  party  which  I  can  now  recall ;  they  were  prepared  for  every 
emergency,  and  did  excellent  service  under  Crook  at  the  Rosebud  ; 
but  before  reaching  their  objective  point,  I  am  sorry  to  say, 
many  of  their  number  fell  victims  to  a  relentless  and  wily  foe. 

To  prevent  any  stampede  of  our  stock  which  might  be  at 
tempted,  our  method  of  establishing  pickets  became  especially 
rigid  :  in  addition  to  the  mounted  vedettes  encircling  bivouac, 
and  occupying  commanding  buttes  and  bluffs,  solid  companies 
were  thrown  out  a  mile  or  two  in  advance  and  kept  mounted, 
with  the  purpose  of  holding  in  check  all  parties  of  the  enemy 
which  might  attempt  to  rush  down  upon  the  herds  and  frighten 
them  off  by  waving  blankets,  yelling,  firing  guns,  or  other  tricks 
in  which  the  savages  were  adepts.  One  platoon  kept  saddled 
ready  for  instant  work  ;  the  others  were  allowed  to  loosen  the 
cinches,  but  not  to  unsaddle.  Eight  miles  from  the  ruins  of  old 
Fort  Kearney,  to  the  east,  we  passed  Lake  De  Smet,  named  after 


294          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

the  zealous  missionary,  Father  De  Smet,  whose  noble  life  was 
devoted  to  the  advancement  of  the  Sioux,  Pawnees,  Arapahoes, 
Crows,  Blackfeet,  Cheyennes,  Coeurs  d'Alenes,  and  Nez  Perces, 
and  whose  silent  ministrations  refute  the  calumny  that  the 
American  Indian  is  not  responsive  to  efforts  for  his  improvement. 
The  view  of  this  body  of  water,  from  the  roadside,  is  very  beauti 
ful  ;  in  length,  it  is  nearly  three  miles ;  in  width,  not  quite  a 
mile.  The  water  is  clear  and  cold,  but  alkaline  and  disagreeable 
to  the  taste.  Game  and  ducks  in  great  numbers  resort  to  this 
lake,  probably  on  account  of  the  mineral  contained  in  its  waters^ 
and  a  variety  of  pickerel  is  said  to  be  abundant.  Buffalo  were 
seen  near  this  bivouac — at  old  Fort  Kearney — and  elk  meat  was 
brought  into  camp  with  beaver,  antelope,  pin-tailed  grouse,  and 
sickle-billed  curlew. 

Our  camp  on  Prairie  Dog  Creek,  at  its  junction  with  the 
Tongue  River,  was  memorable  from  being  the  scene  of  the  killing 
of  the  first  buffalo  found  within  shooting  distance  of  the  column. 
Mosquitoes  became  troublesome  near  the  water  courses.  Prairie- 
dog  villages  lined  the  trail  in  all  places  where  the  sandy  soil  ad 
mitted  of  easy  digging.  The  last  hour  or  two  of  this  march  was 
very  unpleasant.  The  heat  of  the  sun  became  almost  unbear 
able.  Dense  masses  of  clouds  moved  sluggishly  up  from  the 
west  and  north,  while  light  flaky  feathers  of  vapor  flitted  across 
the  sky,  coquetting  with  the  breeze,  now  obscuring  the  sun,  now 
revealing  his  rays.  Low,  rumbling  thunder  sullenly  boomed 
across  the  horizon,  and  with  the  first  flash  of  lightning  changed 
into  an  almost  continuous  roar.  The  nearest  peaks  of  the  Big 
Horn  were  hid  from  our  gaze.  The  heavy  arch  of  clouds  sup 
ported  itself  upon  the  crests  of  the  bluffs  enclosing  the  valley  of 
our  camp.  It  was  a  pretty  picture  ;  the  parks  of  wagons  and 
pack-mules,  the  bright  rows  of  tentage,  and  the  moving  animals 
and  men  gave  enough  animation  to  relieve  the  otherwise  too 
sombre  view  of  the  elements  at  war.  Six  buffaloes  were  killed 
this  day. 

On  the  7th  of  June  we  buried  the  soldier  of  Meinhold's  com 
pany  who  had  accidentally  wounded  himself  with  his  own 
revolver  while  chopping  wood.  Besides  the  escort  prescribed  by 
the  regulations,  the  funeral  cortege  was  swollen  by  additions  from 
all  the  companies  of  the  expedition,  the  pack-train,  wagoners, 
officers,  and  others,  reaching  an  aggregate  of  over  six  hundred. 


A  SOLDIER'S  FUNERAL.  295 

Colonel  G-uy  V.  Henry,  Third  Cavalry,  read  in  a  very  feeling 
manner  the  burial  service  from  the  "  Book  of  Common  Prayer," 
the  cavalry  trumpets  sounded  "  taps/'  a  handful  of  earth  was 
thrown  down  upon  the  remains,  the  grave  was  rapidly  filled  up, 
and  the  companies  at  quick  step  returned  to  their  tents.  There 
was  no  labored  panegyric  delivered  over  the  body  of  Tiernan,  but 
the  kind  reminiscences  of  his  comrades  were  equivalent  to  an 
eulogy  of  which  an  archbishop  might  have  been  proud.  Soldiers 
are  the  freest  from  care  of  any  set  of  men  on  earth  ;  the  grave 
had  not  closed  on  their  comrade  before  they  were  discussing  other 
incidents  of  the  day,  and  had  forgotten  the  sad  rites  of  sepulture 
in  which  they  had  just  participated.  To  be  more  charitable,  we 
were  seeing  so  much  that  was  novel  and  interesting  that  it  was 
impossible  to  chain  the  mind  down  to  one  train  of  thought. 
Captain  Noyes  had  wandered  off  during  the  storm  of  the  night 
previous,  and  remained  out  of  camp  all  night  hunting  for  good 
trout  pools.  A  herd  of  buffaloes  had  trotted  down  close  to  our 
bivouac,  and  many  of  our  command  had  been  unable  to  resist 
the  temptation  to  go  out  and  have  a  shot ;  we  knocked  over  half 
a  dozen  or  more  of  the  old  bulls,  and  brought  the  meat  back  for 
the  use  of  the  messes. 

The  conversation  ran  upon  the  difficulty  experienced  by  the 
pioneer  party  under  Captain  Andrews,  Third  Cavalry,  in  smooth 
ing  and  straightening  the  road  during  the  marches  of  the  past 
two  or  three  days.  General  Crook  had  been  successful  in  finding 
the  nests  and  the  eggs  of  some  rare  birds,  the  white-ringed  black 
bird,  the  Missouri  skylark,  and  the  crow  of  this  region.  He  had 
all  his  life  been  an  enthusiastic  collector  of  specimens  in  natural 
history,  especially  in  all  that  relates  to  nests  and  eggs,  and  had 
been  an  appreciative  observer  of  the  valuable  work  done  on  the 
frontier  in  that  direction  by  Captain  Charles  Bendire,  of  the 
First  Cavalry. 

During  the  8th  of  June  there  was  some  excitement  among  us, 
owing  to  the  interchange  of  conversation  between  our  pickets 
and  a  party  of  Indians  late  the  previous  night.  It  could  not  be 
determined  at  the  moment  whether  the  language  used  was  Sioux 
or  Crow,  or  both,  but  there  was  a  series  of  calls  and  questions 
which  our  men  did  not  fully  understand  ;  one  query  was  to  the 
effect  that  ours  might  be  a  Crow  camp.  A  pony  was  found  out 
side  our  lines,  evidently  left  by  the  visitors.  Despatches  were 


296          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

received  by  General  Crook  notifying  him  that  all  able-bodied 
male  Indians  had  left  the  Red  Cloud  Agency,  and  that  the  Fifth 
Cavalry  had  been  ordered  up  from  Kansas  to  take  post  in  our 
rear;  also  that  the  Shoshones  had  sent  one  hundred  and  twenty 
of  their  warriors  to  help  him,  and  that  we  should  look  for  their 
arrival  almost  any  day.  They  were  marching  across  the  moun 
tains  from  their  reservation  in  the  Wind  River  range,  in  the  heart 
of  the  Rockies. 

June  9,  1876,  the  monotony  of  camp  life  was  agreeably 
broken  by  an  attack  upon  our  lines  made  in  a  most  energetic 
manner  by  the  Sioux  and  Cheyennes.  We  had  reached  a  most 
picturesque  and  charming  camp  on  the  beautiful  Tongue  River, 
and  had  thrown  out  our  pickets  upon  the  hill  tops,  when  sud 
denly  the  pickets  began  to  show  signs  of  uneasiness,  and  to  first 
walk  and  then  trot  their  horses  around  in  a  circle,  a  warning 
that  they  had  seen  something  dangerous.  The  Indians  did  not 
wait  for  a  moment,  but  moved  up  in  good  style,  driving  in  our 
pickets  and  taking  position  in  the  rocks,  from  which  they  rained 
down  a  severe  fire  which  did  no  great  damage  but  was  extremely 
annoying  while  it  lasted.  We  had  only  two  men  wounded,  one 
in  the  leg,  another  in  the  arm,  both  by  glancing  bullets,  and 
neither  wound  dangerous,  and  three  horses  and  two  mules 
wounded,  most  of  which  died.  The  attacking  party  had  made 
the  mistake  of  aiming  at  the  tents,  which  at  the  moment  were 
unoccupied;  but  bullets  ripped  through  the  canvas,  split  the 
ridge  poles,  smashed  the  pipes  of  the  Sibley  stoves,  and  im 
bedded  themselves  in  the  tail-boards  of  the  wagons.  Burt,  Mun- 
son,  and  Burroughs  were  ordered  out  with  their  rifles,  and  Mills 
was  ordered  to  take  his  own  company  of  the  Third  Cavalry  and 
those  of  Sutorius,  Andrews,  and  Lawson,  from  BoyalFs  com 
mand,  and  go  across  the  Tongue  and  drive  the  enemy,  which 
they  did.  The  infantry  held  the  buttes  on  our  right  until  after 
sundown. 

This  attack  was  only  a  bluff  on  the  part  of  "  Crazy  Horse  "  to 
keep  his  word  to  Crook  that  he  would  begin  to  fight  the  latter 
just  as  soon  as  he  touched  the  waters  of  the  Tongue  River  ;  we 
had  scoffed  at  the  message  at  first,  believing  it  to  have  been  an 
invention  of  some  of  the  agency  half-breeds,  but  there  were 
many  who  now  believed  in  its  authenticity.  Every  one  was  glad 
the  attack  had  been  made  ;  if  it  did  nothing  else,  it  proved  that 


AWAITING  THE  SCOUTS'  RETURN.  297 

we  were  not  going  to  have  our  marching  for  nothing  ;  it  kept 
vedettes  and  guards  on  the  alert  and  camp  in  condition  for  fight 
at  a  moment's  notice.  Grass  becoming  scarce  on  Tongue  River 
Crook  moved  his  command  to  the  confluence  of  the  two  forks  of 
Goose  Creek,,  which  is  the  largest  affluent  of  the  Tongue  ;  the 
distance  was  a  trifle  over  seventeen  miles,  and  during  the  march 
a  hail-storm  of  great  severity  visited  us  and  continued  its  pest 
iferous  attentions  for  some  time  after  tents  had  been  erected. 
The  situation  at  the  new  camp  had  many  advantages  :  excellent 
pasturage  was  secured  from  the  slopes  of  the  hills  ;  water  flowed 
in  the  greatest  profusion — clear,  sweet,  and  icy  cold,  murmuring 
gently  in  the  channels  on  each  side  ;  fire-wood  in  sufficiency 
could  be  gathered  along  the  banks ;  the  view  of  the  mountains 
was  beautiful  and  exhilarating,  and  the  climate  serene  and  brac 
ing.  Goose  Creek  was  twenty-five  yards  wide,  with  a  uniform 
depth  of  three  feet,  but  greatly  swollen  by  recent  rains  and  the 
melting  of  the  snow-banks  up  in  the  mountains. 

We  had  to  settle  down  and  await  the  return  of  Frank  Gruard, 
Louis  Richaud,  and  "Big  Bat/'  concerning  whose  safety  not  a 
few  of  the  command  began  to  express  misgivings^  notwithstand 
ing  they  were  all  experienced  frontiersmen,  able  to  look  out  for 
their  own  safety  under  almost  any  contingencies.  The  more 
sanguine  held  to  the  view  that  the  Crows  had  retired  farther 
into  their  own  country  on  account  of  the  assembling  of  great 
bands  of  their  enemies — the  Sioux  and  Cheyennes — and  that  our 
emissaries  had  to  travel  much  farther  than  they  had  first  con 
templated.  But  they  had  been  separated  from  us  for  ten  or 
twelve  days,  and  it  was  becoming  a  matter  of  grave  concern  what 
to  do  about  them. 

In  a  bivouac  of  that  kind  the  great  object  of  life  is  to  kill  time. 
Drilling  and  guard  duty  occupy  very  few  minutes,  reading  and 
writing  become  irksome,  and  conversation  narrowly  escapes 
the  imputation  of  rank  stupidity.  We  had  enjoyed  several 
pony  races,  but  the  best  plugs  for  that  sort  of  work — Major 
Burt's  white  and  Lieutenant  Robertson's  bay — had  both  been 
shot  during  the  skirmish  of  the  9th  of  the  month,  the  former 
fatally,  and  we  no  longer  enjoyed  the  pleasure  of  seeing  races  in 
which  the  stakes  were  nothing  but  a  can  of  corn  or  a  haunch  of 
venison  on  each  side,  but  which  attracted  as  lar^e  and  as  deeply 
interested  crowds  as  many  more  pretentious  affairs  within  the 


298          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

limits  of  civilization.  The  sending  in  of  the  mail  every  week  or 
ten  days  excited  a  ripple  of  concern,,  and  the  packages  of  letters 
made  up  to  be  forwarded  showed  that  our  soldiers  were  men  of 
intelligence  and  not  absolutely  severed  from  home  ties.  The 
packages  were  wrapped  very  tightly,  first  in  waxed  cloth  and 
then  in  oiled  muslin,  the  official  communications  of  most  impor 
tance  being  tied  to  the  courier's  person,  the  others  packed  on  a 
led  mule.  At  sundown  the  courier,  Harrison,  who  had  under 
taken  this  dangerous  business,  set  out  on  his  return  to  Fort 
Fetterman,  accompanied  by  a  non-commissioned  officer  whose 
time  had  expired.  They  were  to  ride  only  by  night,  and  never 
follow  the  road  too  closely  ;  by  hiding  in  little  coves  high  up  in 
the  hills  during  the  day  they  could  most  easily  escape  detection 
by  prowling  bands  of  Indians  coming  out  from  the  agencies,  but 
at  best  it  was  taking  their  lives  in  their  hands. 

The  packers  organized  a  foot-race,  and  bets  as  high  as  five 
and  ten  thousand  dollars  were  freely  waged.  These  were  of 
the  class  known  in  Arizona  as  "  jawbone/'  and  in  Wyoming  as 
"  wind"  ;  the  largest  amount  of  cash  that  I  saw  change  hands 
was  twenty-five  cents.  Rattlesnakes  began  to  emerge  from  their 
winter  seclusion,  and  to  appear  again  in  society  ;  Lieutenant 
Lemly  found  an  immense  one  coiled  up  in  his  blankets,  and 
waked  the  echoes  with  his  yells  for  help.  The  weather  had  as 
sumed  a  most  charming  phase  ;  the  gently  undulating  prairie 
upon  whose  bosom  camp  reposed  was  decked  with  the  greenest 
and  most  nutritive  grasses  ;  our  animals  lazily  nibbled  along 
the  hill  skirts  or  slept  in  the  genial  light  of  the  sun.  In  the 
shade  of  the  box-elder  and  willows  along  the  stream  beds  the 
song  of  the  sweet- voiced  meadow  lark  was  heard  all  day.  At 
rare  moments  the  chirping  of  grasshoppers  might  be  distin 
guished  in  the  herbage  ;  in  front  of  our  line  of  tents  a  cook  was 
burning  or  browning  coffee — it  was  just  as  often  one  as  the 
other — an  idle  recruit  watching  the  process  with  a  semi-attentive 
stupefaction.  The  report  of  a  carbine,  aimed  and  fired  by  one 
exasperated  teamster  at  another  attracted  general  notice ;  the 
assailant  was  at  once  put  in  confinement  and  a  languid  discussion 
of  the  merits  or  supposed  merits  of  the  case  undulated  from 
tent  to  tent.  Parties  of  whist-players  devoted  themselves  to 
their  favorite  game  ;  other  players  eked  out  a  share  of  diversion 
with  home-made  checker-boards.  Those  who  felt  disposed  to 


HOW  THE  TIME  WAS  PASSED.  299 

test  their  skill  as  anglers  were  fairly  rewarded  ;  the  trout  began 
to  bite  languidly  at  first  and  with  exasperating  deliberation,  but 
making  up  for  it  all  later  on,  when  a  good  mess  could  be  hooked 
in  a  few  minutes.  Noyes  and  Wells  and  Randall  were  the  trout 
maniacs,  but  they  had  many  followers  in  their  gentle  lunacy, 
which,  before  the  hot  weather  had  ended,  spread  throughout  the 
whole  command.  Mills  and  his  men  were  more  inclined  to  go 
up  in  the  higher  altitudes  and  hunt  for  bear  ;  they  brought  in  a 
good-sized  "cinnamon,"  which  was  some  time  afterwards  fol 
lowed  by  other  specimens  of  the  bruin  family  ;  elk  and  deer  and 
buffaloes,  the  last  chiefly  the  meat  of  old  bulls  driven  out  of  the 
herds  to  the  northwest,  gaye  relish  and  variety  to  the  ordinary 
rations  and  additional  topics  for  conversation. 

General  Crook  was  an  enthusiastic  hunter  and  fisher,  and  never 
failed  to  return  with  some  tribute  exacted  from  the  beasts  of  the 
hills  or  the  swimmers  of  the  pools  ;  but  he  frequently  joined 
Burt  and  Carpenter  in  their  search  for  rare  birds  and  butterflies, 
with  which  the  rolling  plains  at  the  base  of  the  Big  Horn  were 
filled.  We  caught  one  very  fine  specimen  of  the  prairie  owl, 
which  seemed  wonderfully  tame,  and  comported  itself  with  rare 
dignity  ;  the  name  of  "  Sitting  Bull"  was  conferred  unanimously, 
and  borne  so  long  as  the  bird  honored  camp  with  its  presence. 
Lieutenant  Foster  made  numbers  of  interesting  sketches  of  the 
scenery  of  the  Big  Horn  and  the  hills  nearest  the  Goose  Creek  ; 
one  of  the  packers,  a  man  with  decided  artistic  abilities,  named 
Stanley,  was  busy  at  every  spare  moment  sketching  groups  of 
teamsters,  scouts,  animals,  and  wagons,  with  delicacy  of  execu 
tion  and  excellent  effect.  Captain  Stanton,  our  engineer  officer, 
took  his  altitudes  daily  and  noted  the  positions  of  the  stars. 
Newspapers  were  read  to  pieces,  and  such  books  as  had  found 
their  way  with  the  command  were  passed  from  hand  to  hand  and 
read  eagerly.  Mr.  Wasson  and  I  made  an  arrangement  to  peruse 
each  day  either  one  of  Shakespeare's  plays  or  an  essay  by  Macau- 
lay,  and  to  discuss  them  together.  The  discovery  of  the  first  mess 
of  luscious  strawberries  occasioned  more  excitement  than  any  of 
the  news  received  in  the  journals  of  the  time,  and  an  alarm  on 
the  picket  line  from  the  accidental  discharge  of  a  carbine  or  rifle 
would  bring  out  all  the  conversational  strength  of  young  and  old. 

It  was  whispered  that  one  of  our  teamsters  was  a  woman,  and 
no  other  than  "  Calamity  Jane,"  a  character  famed  in  border 


300  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

story  ;  she  had  donned  the  raiment  of  the  alleged  rougher  sex,  and 
was  skinning  mules  with  the  best  of  them.  She  was  eccentric  and 
wayward  rather  than  bad,  and  had  adopted  male  attire  more  to  aid 
her  in  getting  a  living  than  for  any  improper  purpose.  "Jane  " 
was  as  rough  and  burly  as  any  of  her  messmates,  and  it  is  doubt 
ful  if  her  sex  would  ever  have  been  discovered  had  not  the  wag 
on-master  noted  that  she  didn't  cuss  her  mules  with  the  enthu 
siasm  to  be  expected  from  a  graduate  of  Patrick  &  Saulsbury's 
Black  Hills  Stage  Line,  as  she  had  represented  herself  to  be. 
The  Montana  miners  whom  we  had  found  near  old  Fort  Reno 
began  to  "prospect"  the  gulches,  but  met  with  slight  success. 

During  the  afternoon  of  June  14th  Frank  Gruard  and  Louis 
Richaud  returned,  bringing  with  them  an  old  Crow  chief ;  they 
reported  having  been  obliged  to  travel  as  far  as  old  Fort  Smith, 
on  the  Big  Horn,  and  that  they  had  there  seen  a  large  village  of 
Crows,  numbering  more  than  two  hundred  lodges.  While  prepar 
ing  a  cup  of  coffee  the  smoke  from  their  little  fire  was  discovered 
by  the  Crow  scouts,  and  all  the  young  warriors  of  the  village,  mis 
taking  them  for  a  small  band  of  Sioux  raiders,  charged  across 
the  river  and  attacked  them,  nearly  killing  both  Frank  and  Bat 
before  mutual  recognition  was  made  and  satisfactory  greetings 
exchanged.  The  Crows  were  at  first  reluctant  to  send  any  of 
their  men  to  aid  in  the  war  against  the  Sioux,  alleging  that  they 
were  compelled  to  get  meat  for  their  women  and  children,  and  the 
buffaloes  were  now  close  to  them  in  great  herds ;  we  might  stay 
out  too  long ;  the  enemy  was  so  close  to  the  Crows  that  reprisals 
might  be  attempted,  and  many  of  the  Crow  women,  children,  and 
old  men  would  fall  beneath  the  bullet  and  the  lance.  But  at  last 
they  consented  to  send  a  detachment  of  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  of  their  best  men  to  see  Crook  and  talk  the  matter  over. 
Frank  led  them  to  our  deserted  camp  on  the  Tongue  River,  upon 
seeing  which  they  became  alarmed,  and  supposed  that  we  must 
have  had  a  defeat  from  the  Sioux  and  been  compelled  to  aban 
don  the  country  ;  only  sixteen  followed  further  ;  of  these  Frank 
and  Louis  took  the  old  chief  and  rode  as  rapidly  as  possible  to  our 
camp  on  the  G-oose,  leaving  Bat  to  jog  along  with  fifteen  others 
and  join  at  leisure. 

General  Crook  ordered  a  hot  meal  of  coffee,  sugar,  biscuits, 
butter,  venison,  and  stewed  dried  apples  to  be  set  before  the 
guest  and  guides,  and  then  had  a  long  talk  with  the  former 


THE  CROW  CONTINGENT.  301 

through  the  "sign  language,"  the  curious  medium  of  corre 
spondence  between  all  the  tribes  east  of  the  Eocky  Mountains, 
from  the  Saskatchewan  to  the  Pecos.  This  language  is  idea- 
graphic  and  not  literal  in  its  elements,  and  has  strong  resemblance 
to  the  figure  speech  of  deaf  mutes.  Every  word,  every  idea  to  be 
conveyed,  has  its  characteristic  symbol ;  the  rapidity  of  transmis 
sion  is  almost  telegraphic ;  and,  as  will  be  demonstrated  later  on, 
every  possible  topic  finds  adequate  expression.  The  old  chief 
explained  to  Frank  that  the  troops  from  Montana  (Gibbon's  com 
mand)  were  encamped  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Yellowstone,  oppo 
site  the  mouth  of  the  Rosebud,  unable  to  cross ;  the  hostile  Sioux 
were  watching  the  troops  from  the  other  side.  An  attempt  made 
by  Gibbon  to  throw  his  troops  across  had  resulted  in  the  drown 
ing  of  one  company's  horses  in  the  flood  ;  the  Sioux  had  also,  in 
some  unexplained  way,  succeeded  in  running  off  the  ponies  belong 
ing  to  the  thirty  Crow  scouts  attached  to  Gibbon's  command. 

The  main  body  of  the  hostile  Sioux  and  Cheyennes  was 
encamped  on  the  Tongue,  near  the  mouth  of  Otter  Creek,  and 
between  that  and  the  Yellowstone.  The  Crows  had  heard  that  a 
large  band  of  Shoshones  had  started  out  to  join  Crook,  and 
should  soon  be  with  him  at  his  present  camp.  It  was  a  small 
detachment  of  Crow  scouts  that  had  alarmed  our  pickets  by  yell 
ing  some  ten  nights  previously.  As  soon  as  the  meal  and  the 
conversation  were  ended  Crook  sent  the  old  chief  back  with 
Louis  Richaud  and  Major  Burt,  who  from  previous  service  among 
the  Crows  was  well  acquainted  with  many  of  them,  to  halt  the 
main  body  and  induce  them  to  enter  our  camp.  Burt  was  entirely 
successful  in  his  mission,  and  before  dusk  he  was  with  us  again, 
this  time  riding  at  the  head  of  a  long  retinue  of  savage  retainers, 
whose  grotesque  head-dresses,  variegated  garments,  wild  little 
ponies,  and  war-like  accoutrements  made  a  quaint  and  curious 
spectacle. 

While  the  main  column  halted  just  inside  our  camp,  the  three 
chiefs— "  Old  Crow,"  "Medicine  Crow,"  and  "Good  Heart"— 
were  presented  to  General  Crook,  and  made  the  recipients  of 
some  little  attentions  in  the  way  of  food.  Our  newly-arrived  allies 
bivouacked  in  our  midst,  sending  their  herd  of  ponies  out  to 
graze  alongside  of  our  own  horses.  The  entire  band  numbered 
one  hundred  and  seventy-six,  as  near  as  we  could  ascertain  ;  each 
had  two  ponies.  The  first  thing  they  did  was  to  erect  the  war- 


302  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

lodges  of  saplings,  covered  over  with  blankets  or  pieces  of  can 
vas  ;  fires  were  next  built,  and  a  feast  prepared  of  the  supplies 
of  coffee,  sugar,  and  hard-tack  dealt  out  by  the  commissary ; 
these  are  the  prime  luxuries  of  an  Indian's  life.  A  curious  crowd 
of  lookers-on — officers,  soldiers,  teamsters,  and  packers — congre 
gated  around  the  little  squads  of  Crows,  watching  with  eager  at 
tention  their  every  movement.  The  Indians  seemed  proud  of  the 
distinguished  position  they  occupied  in  popular  estimation,  and 
were  soon  on  terms  of  easy  familiarity  with  the  soldiers,  some  of 
whom  could  talk  a  sentence  or  two  of  Crow,  and  others  were 
expert  to  a  slight  extent  in  the  sign  language. 

In  stature,  complexion,  dress,  and  general  demeanor  a  marked 
contrast  was  observable  between  our  friends  and  the  Sioux  In 
dians,  a  contrast  decidedly  to  the  advantage  of  the  former.  The 
Absaroka  or  Crow  Indians,  perhaps  as  a  consequence  of  their  resi 
dence  among  the  elevated  banks  and  cool,  fresh  mountain  ranges 
between  the  Big  Horn  Eiver  and  the  Yellowstone,  are  somewhat 
fairer  than  the  other  tribes  about  them ;  they  are  all  above  me 
dium  height,  not  a  few  being  quite  tall,  and  many  have  a  noble 
expression  of  countenance.  Their  dress  consisted  of  a  shirt  of 
flannel,  cotton,  or  buckskin  ;  breech-clout ;  leggings  of  blanket ; 
moccasins  of  deer,  elk,  or  buffalo  hide  ;  coat  of  bright- col  or  eel 
blanket,  made  with  loose  sleeves  and  hood  ;  and  a  head-dress 
fashioned  in  divers  shapes,  but  most  frequently  formed  from  an 
old  black  army  hat,  with  the  top  cut  out  and  sides  bound  round 
with  feathers,  fur,  and  scarlet  cloth.  Their  arms  were  all  breech 
loaders,  throwing  cartridges  of  calibre  .50  with  an  occasional  .45. 
Lances,  medicine-poles,  and  tomahawks  figured  in  the  procession. 
The  tomahawks,  made  of  long  knives  inserted  in  shafts  or  han 
dles  of  wood  and  horn,  were  murderous  weapons.  Accompanying 
these  Indians  were  a  few  little  boys,  whose  business  was  to  hold 
horses  and  other  unimportant  work  while  their  elders  conducted 
the  dangerous  operations  of  the  campaign. 

At  "  retreat  "  all  the  battalion  commanders  and  staff  officers 
assembled  in  front  of  the  tent  of  the  commanding  general,  and 
listened  to  his  terse  instructions  regarding  the  approaching 
march.  We  were  to  cut  loose  from  our  wagons,  each  officer  and 
soldier  carrying  four  days'  rations  of  hard  bread,  coffee,  and 
bacon  in  saddle-pockets,  and  one  hundred  rounds  of  ammunition 
in  belts  or  pouches ;  one  blanket  to  each  person.  The  wagons 


THE  SHOSHONES'  ARRIVAL.  303 

were  to  be  parked  and  left  behind  in  a  defensible  position  on  the 
Tongue  or  Goose,  and  under  the  protection  of  the  men  unable 
for  any  reason  to  join  in  the  forward  movement ;  all  the  infantry 
men  who  could  ride  and  who  so  desired  were  to  be  mounted  on 
mules  from  the  pack-trains  with  saddles  from  the  wagons  or 
from  the  cavalry  companies  which  could  spare  them.  If  success 
ful  in  attacking  a  village,  the  supplies  of  dried  meat  and  other 
food  were  to  be  saved,  and  we  should  then,  in  place  of  returning 
immediately  to  our  train,  push  on  to  make  a  combination  with 
either  Terry  or  Gibbon,  as  the  case  might  be. 

Scarcely  had  this  brief  conference  been  ended  when  a  long  line 
of  glittering  lances  and  brightly  polished  weapons  of  fire  an 
nounced  the  anxiously  expected  advent  of  our  other  allies,  fche 
Shoshones  or  Snakes,  who,  to  the  number  of  eighty-six,  galloped 
rapidly  up  to  headquarters  and  came  left  front  into  line  in 
splendid  style,  No  trained  warriors  of  civilized  armies  ever  exe 
cuted  the  movement  more  prettily.  Exclamations  of  wonder 
and  praise  greeted  the  barbaric  array  of  these  fierce  warriors, 
warmly  welcomed  by  their  former  enemies  but  at  present  strong 
friends — the  Crows.  General  Crook  moved  out  to  review  their 
line  of  battle,  resplendent  in  all  the  fantastic  adornment  of 
feathers,  beads,  brass  buttons,  bells,  scarlet  cloth,  and  flashing 
lances.  The  Shoshones  were  not  slow  to  perceive  the  favorable 
impression  made,  and  when  the  order  came  for  them  to  file  off  by 
the  right  moved  with  the  precision  of  clock-work  and  the  pride 
of  veterans. 

A  grand  council  was  the  next  feature  of  the  evening's  enter 
tainment.  Around  a  huge  fire  of  crackling  boughs  the  officers 
of  the  command  arranged  themselves  in  two  rows,  the  interest 
and  curiosity  depicted  upon  their  countenances  acting  as  a  foil 
to  the  stolidity  and  imperturbable  calmness  of  the  Indians 
squatted  upon  the  ground  on  the  other  side.  The  breezes  blow 
ing  the  smoke  aside  would  occasionally  enable  the  flames  to 
bring  out  in  bold  and  sudden  relief  the  intense  blackness  of  the 
night,  the  sepulchral  whiteness  of  the  tents  and  wagon-sheets, 
the  blue  coats  of  officers  and  soldiers  (who  thronged  among  the 
wagons  behind  their  superiors),  the  red,  white,  yellow,  and  black 
beaded  blankets  of  the  savages,  whose  aquiline  features  and  glit 
tering  eyes  had  become  still  more  aquiline  and  still  more  glitter 
ing,  and  the  small  group  in  the  centre  of  the  circle  composed  of 


304         ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

General  Crook  and  his  staff,  the  interpreters — Frank  Gruard  and 
''  Big  Bat"  and  Louis — and  the  Indian  chiefs.  One  quadrant  was 
reserved  for  the  Shoshones,  another  for  the  Crows.  Each  tribe 
selected  one  spokesman,  who  repeated  to  his  people  the  words  of 
the  General  as  they  were  made  known  by  the  interpreters. 
Ejaculations  of  "Ugh  !  ugh  !"  were  the  only  signs  of  approval, 
but  it  was  easy  enough  to  see  that  nothing  was  lost  that  was 
addressed  to  them.  Pipes  of  the  same  kind  as  those  the  Sioux 
have  were  kept  in  industrious  circulation.  The  remarks  made 
by  General  Crook  were  almost  identical  with  those  addressed  to 
the  Crows  alone  earlier  in  the  evening  ;  the  Indians  asked  the 
privilege  of  scouting  in  their  own  way,  which  was  conceded. 

An  adjournment  was  ordered  at  between  ten  and  eleven 
o'clock  to  allow  such  of  our  allies  as  so  desired  to  seek  much- 
needed  rest.  The  Shoshones  had  ridden  sixty  miles,  and  night 
was  far  advanced.  The  erroneousness  of  this  assumption  was 
disclosed  very  speedily.  A  long  series  of  monotonous  howls, 
shrieks,  groans,  and  nasal  yells,  emphasized  by  a  perfectly  ear- 
piercing  succession  of  thumps  upon  drums  improvised  from  "  par- 
fleche  "  (tanned  buffalo  skin),  attracted  nearly  all  the  soldiers 
and  many  of  the  officers  not  on  duty  to  the  allied  camp.  Peep 
ing  into  the  different  lodges  was  very  much  like  peeping  through 
the  key-hole  of  Hades. 

Crouched  around  little  fires  not  affording  as  much  light  as  an 
ordinary  tallow  candle,  the  swarthy  figures  of  the  naked  and 
half-naked  Indians  were  visible,  moving  and  chanting  in  unison 
with  some  leader.  No  words  were  distinguishable  ;  the  cere 
mony  partook  of  the  nature  of  an  abominable  incantation,  and 
as  far  as  I  could  judge  had  a  semi-religious  character.  One  of 
the  Indians,  mounted  on  a  pony  and  stripped  almost  naked, 
passed  along  from  lodge  to  lodge,  stopping  in  front  of  each  and 
calling  upon  the  Great  Spirit  (so  our  interpreter  said)  to  send 
them  plenty  of  scalps,  a  big  Sioux  village,  and  lots  of  ponies. 
The  inmates  would  respond  with,  if  possible,  increased  vehe 
mence,  and  the  old  saying  about  making  night  hideous  was 
emphatically  suggested.  With  this  wild  requiem  ringing  in  his 
ears  one  of  our  soldiers,  a  patient  in  hospital,  Private  William 
Nelson,  Company  "L,"  Third  Cavalry,  breathed  his  last.  The 
herd  of  beef  cattle,  now  reduced  to  six,  became  scared  by  the  din 
and  broke  madly  for  the  hills.  All  night  the  rain  pattered  down. 


CHATO. 


PREPARING  TO  SET  OUT.  305 

Among  our  Crows  were  said  to  be  some  very  distinguished 
warriors  ;  one  of  these  pointed  out  to  me  had  performed  during 
the  preceding  winter  the  daring  feat  of  stealing  in  alone  upon  a 
Sioux  village  and  getting  a  fine  pony,  which  he  tied  loosely  to  a 
stake  outside  ;  then  he  crept  back,  lifted  up  the  flap  of  one  of 
the  lodges,  and  called  gently  to  the  sleepers,  who,  unsuspecting, 
answered  the  grunt,  which  awakened  them,  and  thus  betrayed 
just  where  the  men  were  lying  ;  the  Crow  took  aim  coolly  and 
blew  the  head  off  of  one  of  the  Sioux,  slipped  down  through  the 
village,  untied  and  mounted  his  pony,  and  was  away  like  the 
wind  before  the  astonished  enemy  could  tell  from  the  screaming 
and  jabbering  squaws  what  was  the  matter. 

All  through  the  next  day,  June  15,  1876,  camp  was  a  bee 
hive  of  busy  preparation.  Colonel  Chambers  had  succeeded  in 
finding  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  infantrymen  who  could 
ride,  or  were  anxious  to  try,  so  as  to  see  the  whole  trip  through 
in  proper  shape.  These  were  mounted  upon  mules  from  the 
wagon  and  pack  trains,  and  the  first  hour's  experience  with  the 
reluctant  Eosinantes  equalled  the  best  exhibition  ever  given  by 
Barnum.  Tom  Moore  organized  a  small  detachment  of  packers 
who  had  had  any  amount  of  experience ;  two  of  them — Young 
and  Delaney — had  been  with  the  English  in  India,  in  the  wars 
with  the  Sikhs  and  Rohillas,  and  knew  as  much  as  most  people 
do  about  campaigning  and  all  its  hardships  and  dangers.  The 
medical  staff  was  kept  busy  examining  men  unfit  to  go  to  the 
front,  but  it  was  remarkable  that  the  men  ordered  to  remain 
behind  did  so  under  protest.  The  wagons  were  parked  in  a  great 
corral,  itself  a  sort  of  fortification  against  which  the  Sioux  would 
not  heedlessly  rush.  Within  this  corral  racks  made  of  willow 
branches  supported  loads  of  wild  meat,  drying  in  the  sun  :  deer 
and  antelope  venison,  buffalo,  elk,  and  grizzly-bear  meat,  the  last 
two  killed  by  a  hunting  party  from  the  pack-train  the  previous  day. 

The  preparations  which  our  savage  allies  were  making  were  no 
less  noticeable  :  in  both  Snake  and  Crow  camps  .could  be  seen 
squads  of  young  warriors  looking  after  their  rifles,  which,  by  the 
way,  among  the  Shoshones,  I  forgot  to  mention,  were  of  the  latest 
model — calibre  .45 — and  kept  with  scrupulous  care  in  regular 
gun-racks.  Some  were  sharpening  lances  or  adorning  them  with 
feathers  and  paint;  others  were  making  ' '  co  up "  sticks,  which 
are  long  willow  branches  about  twelve  feet  from  end  to  end, 
20 


306          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

stripped  of  leaves  and  bark,  and  having  each  some  distinctive 
mark,  in  the  way  of  feathers,  bells,  fur,  paint,  or  bright-colored 
cloth  or  flannel.  These  serve  a  singular  purpose  :  the  great 
object  of  the  Shoshones,  Crows,  Cheyennes,  and  Dakotas  in 
making  war  is  to  set  the  enemy  afoot.  This  done,  his  destruc 
tion  is  rendered  more  easy  if  not  more  certain.  Ponies  are  also 
the  wealth  of  the  conquerors ;  hence,  in  dividing  the  spoil,  each 
man  claims  the  animals  first  struck  by  his  "  coup  "  stick. 

With  the  Snakes  were  three  white  men — Cosgrove,  Yarnell, 
and  Eckles — all  Texans;  and  one  French-Canadian  half-breed, 
named  Luisant.  Cosgrove,  the  leading  spirit,  was,  during  the 
Kebellion,  a  captain  in  the  32d  Texas  Cavalry,  C.  S.  A.,  and 
showed  he  had  not  forgotten  the  lessons  of  the  war  by  the 
appearance  of  discipline  and  good  order  evinced  by  his  command, 
who,  in  this  respect,  were  somewhat  ahead  of  the  Crows.  We 
were  informed  that  on  the  march  over  from  Wind  River,  the 
Snakes,  during  one  afternoon,  killed  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  buffaloes  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Owl  Creek  Mountains. 
In  the  early  hours  of  the  afternoon  the  Crows  had  a  foot-race, 
for  twenty  cartridges  a  side  ;  the  running  was  quite  good  for  the 
distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards. 

At  sunset  we  buried  Private  Nelson,  who  had  died  the  previous 
night.  The  funeral  cortege  was  decidedly  imposing,  because,  as 
on  all  former  occasions  of  the  same  nature,  all  officers  and  men 
not  engaged  on  other  duty  made  it  a  point  to  be  present  at  the 
grave  of  every  dead  comrade ;  the  noise  of  the  parting  volleys 
brought  our  savages  up  on  a  gallop,  persuaded  that  the  Sioux 
were  making  a  demonstration  against  some  part  of  our  lines ; 
they  dashed  up  to  the  side  of  the  grave,  and  there  they  sat 
motionless  upon  their  ponies,  feathers  nodding  in  the  breeze, 
and  lances  gleaming  in  the  sun.  Some  of  them  wore  as  many  as 
four  rings  in  each  ear,  the  entire  cartilage  being  perforated  from 
apex  to  base. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

THE  COLUMN  IN  MOTION— RUNNING  INTO  A  GREAT  HERD  OF 
BUFFALOES — THE  SIGNAL  CRY  OF  THE  SCOUTS— THE  FIGHT 
ON  THE  ROSEBUD — HOW  THE  KILLED  WERE  BURIED — SCALP 
DANCE — BUTCHERING  A  CHEYENNE — LIEUTENANT  SCHUY- 
LER  ARRIVES — SENDING  BACK  THE  WOUNDED. 

ON  the  16th  of  June,  by  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  our 
whole  command  had  broken  camp  and  was  on  its  way  west 
ward  ;  we  crossed  Tongue  River,  finding  a  swift  stream,  rather 
muddy  from  recent  rains,  with  a  current  twenty-five  yards  wide, 
and  four  feet  deep ;  the  bottom  of  hard-pan,  but  the  banks  on 
one  side  muddy  and  slippery. 

The  valley,  as  we  saw  it  from  the  bluffs  amid  which  we 
marched,  presented  a  most  beautiful  appearance — green  with 
juicy  grasses,  and  dark  with  the  foliage  of  cotton  wood  and  willow. 
Its  sinuosities  encircled  ffiany  park-like  areas  of  meadow,  bounded 
on  the  land  side  by  bluffs  of  drift.  The  Indians  at  first  marched 
on  the  flank,  but  soon  passed  the  column  and  took  the  lead,  the 
"medicine  men"  in  front ;  one  of  the  head  "medicine  men"  of 
the  Crows  kept  up  a  piteous  chant,  reciting  the  cruelties  of  their 
enemies  and  stimulating  the  young  men  to  deeds  of  martial 
valor.  In  every  possible  way  these  savages  reminded  me  of  the 
descriptions  I  had  read  of  the  Bedouins. 

Our  course  turned  gradually  to  the  northwest,  and  led  us 
across  several  of  the  tributaries  of  the  Tongue,  or  "Deje-ajie  "  as 
the  Crows  called  it,  each  of  these  of  good  dimensions,  and  carrying 
the  unusual  flow  due  to  the  rapid  melting  of  snow  in  the  higher 
elevations.  The  fine  grass  seen  close  to  the  Tongue  disappeared, 
and  the  country  was  rather  more  barren,  with  many  prairie- 
dog  villages.  The  soil  was  made  up  of  sandstones,  with  a  great 
amount  of  both  clay  and  lime,  shales  and  lignite,  the  latter  burnt 
out.  Some  of  the  sandstone  had  been  filled  with  pyrites,  which 
had  decomposed  and  left  it  in  a  vesicular  state.  There  were  a 


308          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

great  many  scrub  pines  in  the  recesses  of  the  bluffs.  The  cause 
for  the  sudden  disappearance  of  the  grass  was  soon  apparent : 
the  scouts  ran  in  upon  a  herd  of  buffaloes  whose  cast-off  bulls 
had  been  the  principal  factor  in  our  meat  supply  for  more  than  a 
week ;  the  trails  ran  in  every  direction,  and  the  grass  had  been 
nipped  off  more  closely  than  if  cut  by  a  scythe.  There  was  much 
more  cactus  than  we  had  seen  for  some  time,  and  a  reappearance 
of  the  sage-brush  common  nearer  to  Fort  Fetterman. 

In  the  afternoon,  messengers  from  our  extreme  advance  came 
as  fast  as  ponies  would  carry  them,  with  the  information  that  we 
were  upon  the  trail  of  a  very  great  village  of  the  enemy.  The 
cavalry  dismounted  and  unsaddled,  seeking  the  shelter  of  all  the 
ravines  to  await  the  results  of  the  examination  to  be  made  by  a 
picked  detail  from  the  Crows  and  Shoshones.  The  remaining 
Indians  joined  in  a  wild,  strange  war-dance,  the  younger  warriors 
becoming  almost  frenzied  before  the  exercises  terminated.  The 
young  men  who  had  been  sent  out  to  spy  the  land  rejoined  us  on 
a  full  run  ;  from  the  tops  of  the  hills  they  yelled  like  wolves,  the 
conventional  signal  among  the  plains  tribes  that  the  enemy  has 
been  sighted.  Excitement,  among  the  Indians  at  least,  was  at 
fever  heat ;  many  of  the  younger  members  of  the  party  re-echoed 
the  ululation  of  the  incoming  scouts ;  many  others  spurred  out 
to  meet  them  and  escort  them  in  with  becoming  honors.  The 
old  chiefs  held  their  bridles  while  they  dismounted,  and  the  less 
prominent  warriors  deferentially  formed  in  a  circle  to  listen  to 
their  narrative.  It  did  not  convey  much  information  to  my 
mind,  unaccustomed  to  the  indications  so  familiar  to  them.  It 
simply  amounted  to  this,  that  the  buffaloes  were  in  very  large 
herds  directly  ahead  of  us,  and  were  running  away  from  a  Sioux 
hunting  party. 

Knowing  the  unfaltering  accuracy  of  an  Indian's  judgment  in 
matters  of  this  kind,  General  Crook  told  the  chiefs  to  arrange 
their  plan  of  march  according  to  their  own  ideas.  On  occasions 
like  this,  as  I  was  told  by  our  scouts  and  others,  the  young  men 
of  the  Assiniboines  and  Northern  Sioux  were  required  to  hold 
in  each  hand  a  piece  of  buffalo  chip  as  a  sign  that  they  were  tell 
ing  the  truth  ;  nothing  of  that  kind  occurred  on  the  occasion 
in  question.  While  the  above  was  going  on,  the  Indians  were 
charging  about  on  their  hardy  little  ponies,  to  put  them  out  of 
breath,  so  that,  when  they  regained  their  wind,  they  would  not 


BUFFALO  IN  PLENTY.  309 

fail  to  sustain  a  whole  day's  battle.  A  little  herb  is  carried 
along,  to  be  given  to  the  ponies  in  such  emergencies,  but  what 
virtues  are  attributed  to  this  medicine  I  was  unable  to  ascertain. 
Much  solemnity  is  attached  to  the  medicine  arrows  of  the  "  medi 
cine  men,"  who  seem  to  possess  the  power  of  arbitrarily  stopping 
a  march  at  almost  any  moment.  As  I  kept  with  them,  I  had 
opportunity  to  observe  all  that  they  did,  except  when  every  one 
was  directed  to  keep  well  to  the  rear,  as  happened  upon  approach 
ing  a  tree — juniper  or  cedar — in  the  fork  of  whose  lower  branches 
there  was  a  buffalo  head,  before  which  the  principal  "  medicine 
man  "  and  his  assistant  halted  and  smoked  from  their  long  pipes. 
Noon  had  passed,  and  the  march  was  resumed  to  gain  the 
Rosebud,  one  of  the  tributaries  of  the  Yellowstone,  marking  the 
ultimate  western  limit  of  our  campaign  during  the  previous  win 
ter.  We  moved  along  over  an  elevated,  undulating,  grassy  table 
land.  Without  possessing  any  very  marked  beauty,  there  was  a 
certain  picturesqueness  in  the  country  which  was  really  pleasing. 
Every  few  rods  a  petty  rivulet  coursed  down  the  hill-sides  to  pay 
its  tribute  to  the  Tongue  ;  there  was  no  timber,  except  an  occa 
sional  small  cottonwood  or  willow,  to  be  seen  along  the  banks  of 
these  little  water-courses,  but  wild  roses  by  the  thousand  laid 
their  delicate  beauties  at  our  feet ;  a  species  of  phlox,  daintily 
blue  in  tint,  was  there  also  in  great  profusion,  while  in  the 
bushes  multitudes  of  joyous-voiced  singing-birds  piped  their  wel 
come  as  the  troops  filed  by.  Yet  this  lovely  country  was  aban 
doned  to  the  domination  of  the  thriftless  savage,  the  buffalo, 
and  the  rattlesnake  ;  we  could  see  the  last-named  winding  along 
through  the  tall  grass,  rattling  defiance  as  they  sneaked  away. 
Buffalo  spotted  the  landscape  in  every  direction,  in  squads  of 
ten  and  twelve  and  " bunches"  of  sixty  and  seventy.  These 
were  not  old  bulls  banished  from  the  society  of  their  mates,  to  be 
attacked  and  devoured  by  coyotes,  but  fine  fat  cows  with  calves 
ambling  close  behind  them.  One  young  bull  calf  trotted  down 
close  to  the  column,  his  eyes  beaming  with  curiosity  and  wonder. 
He  was  allowed  to  approach  within  a  few  feet,  when  our  prosaic 
Crow  guides  took  his  life  as  the  penalty  of  his  temerity.  Thirty 
buffaloes  were  killed  that  afternoon,  and  the  choice  pieces — 
hump,  tenderloin,  tongue,  heart,  and  rib  steaks — packed  upon 
our  horses.  The  flesh  was  roasted  in  the  ashes,  a  pinch  of  salt 
sprinkled  over  it,  and  a  very  savory  and  juicy  addition  made  to 


310          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

our  scanty  supplies.  The  Indians  ate  the  buffalo  liver  raw, 
sometimes  sprinkling  a  pinch  of  gall  upon  it ;  the  warm  raw 
liver  alone  is  not  bad  for  a  hungry  man,  tasting  very  much  like 
a  raw  oyster.  The  entrails  are  also  much  in  favor  with  the  abo 
rigines  ;  they  are  cleaned,  wound  round  a  ramrod,  or  something 
akin  to  it  if  a  ramrod  be  not  available,  and  held  in  the  hot  ashes 
until  cooked  through  ;  they  make  a  palatable  dish  ;  the  buffalo 
has  an  intestine  shaped  like  an  apple,  which  is  filled  with  chyle, 
and  is  the  bonne  bouche  of  the  savages  when  prepared  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  other  intestines,  excepting  that  the  contents  are 
left  untouched. 

While  riding  alongside  of  one  of  our  Crow  scouts  I  noticed 
tears  flowing  down  his  cheeks,  and  very  soon  he  started  a  wail 
or  chant  of  the  most  lugubrious  tone  ;  I  respected  his  grief  until 
he  had  wept  to  his  heart's  content,  and  then  ventured  to  ask  the 
cause  of  such  deep  distress  ;  he  answered  that  his  uncle  had 
been  killed  a  number  of  years  before  by  the  Sioux,  and  he  was  cry 
ing  for  him  now  and  wishing  that  he  might  come  back  to  life  to 
get  some  of  the  ponies  of  the  Sioux  and  Cheyennes.  Two  minutes 
after  having  discharged  the  sad  duty  of  wailing  for  his  dead 
relative,  the  young  Crow  was  as  lively  as  any  one  else  in  the 
column. 

We  bivouacked  on  the  extreme  head-waters  of  the  Rosebud, 
which  was  at  that  point  a  feeble  rivulet  of  snow  water,  sweet 
and  palatable  enough  when  the  muddy  ooze  was  not  stirred  up 
from  the  bottom.  Wood  was  found  in  plenty  for  the  slight 
wants  of  the  command,  which  made  small  fires  for  a  few  moments 
to  boil  coffee,  while  the  animals,  pretty  well  tired  out  by  the 
day's  rough  march  of  nearly  forty  miles,  rolled  and  rolled  again 
in  the  matted  bunches  of  succulent  pasturage  growing  at  their 
feet.  Our  lines  were  formed  in  hollow  square,  animals  inside, 
and  each  man  sleeping  with  his  saddle  for  a  pillow  and  with 
arms  by  his  side.  Pickets  were  posted  on  the  bluffs  near  camp, 
and,. after  making  what  collation  we  could,  sleep  was  sought  at 
the  same  moment  the  black  clouds  above  us  had  begun  to  patter 
down  rain.  A  party  of  scouts  returned  late  at  night,  reporting 
having  come  across  a  small  gulch  in  which  was  a  still  burning 
fire  of  a  band  of  Sioux  hunters,  who  in  the  precipitancy  of  their 
flight  had  left  behind  a  blanket  of  India-rubber.  We  came  near 
having  a  casualty  in  the  accidental  discharge  of  the  revolver  of 


" CRAZY  HORSE'S"  TACTICS.  311 

Mr.  John  F.  Finerty,  the  bullet  burning  the  saddle  and  break 
ing  it,  but,  fortunately,  doing  no  damage  to  the  rider.  By  day 
light  of  the  next  day,  June  17,  1876,  we  were  marching  down 
the  Rosebud. 

The  Crow  scouts  with  whom  I  was  had  gone  but  a  short  dis 
tance  when  shots  were  heard  down  the  valley  to  the  north, 
followed  by  the  ululation  proclaiming  from  the  hill-tops  that  the 
enemy  was  in  force  and  that  we  were  in  for  a  fight.  Shot  after 
shot  followed  on  the  left,  and  by  the  time  that  two  of  the  Crows 
reached  us,  one  of  them  severely  wounded  and  both  crying, 
"  Sioux  !  Sioux  ! "  it  was  plain  that  something  out  of  the  com 
mon  was  to  be  expected.  There  was  a  strong  line  of  pickets  out 
on  the  hills  on  that  flank,  and  this  was  immediately  strengthened 
by  a  respectable  force  of  skirmishers  to  cover  the  cavalry  horses, 
which  were  down  at  the  bottom  of  the  amphitheatre  through 
which  the  Rosebud  at  that  point  ran.  The  Shoshones  promptly 
took  position  in  the  hills  to  the  left,  and  alongside  of  them  were 
the  companies  of  the  Fourth  Infantry,  under  Major  A.  B.  Cain, 
and  one  or  two  of  the  cavalry  companies,  dismounted. 

The  Sioux  advanced  boldly  and  in  overwhelming  force,  cover 
ing  the  hills  to  the  north,  and  seemingly  confident  that  our  com 
mand  would  prove  an  easy  prey.  In  one  word,  the  battle  of  the 
Rosebud  was  a  trap,  and  "  Crazy  Horse,"  the  leader  in  command 
here  as  at  the  Custer  massacre  a  week  later,  was  satisfied  he  was 
going  to  have  everything  his  own  way.  He  stated  afterwards, 
when  he  had  surrendered  to  General  Crook  at  the  agency,  that 
he  had  no  less  than  six  thousand  five  hundred  men  in  the  fight, 
and  that  the  first  attack  was  made  with  fifteen  hundred,  the 
others  being  concealed  behind  the  bluffs  and  hills.  His  plan  of 
battle  was  either  to  lead  detachments  in  pursuit  of  his  people, 
and  turning  quickly  cut  them  to  pieces  in  detail,  or  draw  the 
whole  of  Crook's  forces  down  into  the  cation  of  the  Rosebud, 
where  escape  would  have  been  impossible,  as  it  formed  a  verita 
ble  cul  de  sac,  the  vertical  walls  hemming  in  the  sides,  the  front 
being  closed  by  a  dam  and  abatis  of  broken  timber  which  gave 
a  depth  of  ten  feet  of  water  and  mud,  the  rear,  of  course,  to 
be  shut  off  by  thousands  of  yelling,  murderous  Sioux  and  Chey- 
ennes.  That  was  the  Sioux  programme  as  learned  that  day,  or 
afterwards  at  the  agencies  from  the  surrendered  hostiles  in  the 
spring  of  the  following  year. 


312          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

While  this  attack  was  going  on  on  our  left  and  front,,  a  deter 
mined  demonstration  was  made  by  a  large  body  of  the  enemy  on 
our  right  and  rear,  to  repel  which  Colonel  Boyall,  Third  Cavalry, 
was  sent  with  a  number  of  companies,  mounted,  to  charge  and 
drive  back.  I  will  restrict  my  observations  to  what  I  saw,  as  the 
battle  of  the  Rosebud  has  been  several  times  described  in  books 
and  any  number  of  times  in  the  correspondence  sent  from  the 
command  to  the  journals  of  those  years.  The  Sioux  and 
Cheyennes,  the  latter  especially,  were  extremely  bold  and  fierce, 
and  showed  a  disposition  to  come  up  and  have  it  out  hand  to 
hand ;  in  all  this  they  were  gratified  by  our  troops,  both  red  and 
white,  who  were  fully  as  anxious  to  meet  them  face  to  face  and 
see  which  were  the  better  men.  At  that  part  of  the  line  the 
enemy  were  disconcerted  at  a  very  early  hour  by  the  deadly  fire 
of  the  infantry  with  their  long  rifles.  As  the  hostiles  advanced 
at  a  full  run,  they  saw  nothing  in  their  front,  and  imagined  that 
it  would  be  an  easy  thing  for  them  to  sweep  down  through  the 
long  ravine  leading  to  the  amphitheatre,  where  they  could  see 
numbers  of  our  cavalry  horses  clumped  together.  They  ad 
vanced  in  excellent  style,  yelling  and  whooping,  and  glad  of  the 
opportunity  of  wiping  us  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  When  Cain's 
men  and  the  detachments  of  the  Second  Cavalry  which  were 
lying  down  behind  a  low  range  of  knolls  rose  up  and  delivered  a 
withering  fire  at  less  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  yards,  the  Sioux 
turned  and  fled  as  fast  as  "quirt "  and  heel  could  persuade  their 
ponies  to  get  out  of  there. 

But,  in  their  turn,  they  re-formed  behind  a  low  range  not 
much  over  three  hundred  yards  distant,  and  from  that  position 
kept  up  an  annoying  fire  upon  our  men  and  horses.  Becoming 
bolder,  probably  on  account  of  re-enforcements,  they  again 
charged,  this  time  upon  a  weak  spot  in  our  lines  a  little  to 
Cain's  left ;  this  second  advance  was  gallantly  met  by  a  counter 
charge  of  the  Shoshones,  who,  under  their  chief  "  Luishaw," 
took  the  Sioux  and  Cheyennes  in  flank  and  scattered  them  be 
fore  them.  I  went  in  with  this  charge,  and  was  enabled  to 
see  how  such  things  were  conducted  by  the  American  savages, 
fighting  according  to  their  own  notions.  There  was  a  headlong 
rush  for  about  two  hundred  yards,  which  drove  the  enemy  back 
in  confusion  ;  then  was  a  sudden  halt,  and  very  many  of  the 
Shoshones  jumped  down  from  their  ponies  and  began  firing  from 


CHARGE  OF  THE  SHOSHONES.  313 

the  ground  ;  the  others  who  remained  mounted  threw  themselves 
alongside  of  their  horses'  necks,  so  that  there  would  be  few  good 
marks  presented  to  the  aim  of  the  enemy.  Then,  in  response 
to  some  signal  or  cry  which,  of  course,  I  did  not  understand,  we 
were  off  again,  this  time  for  good,  and  right  into  the  midst  of 
the  hostiles,  who  had  been  halted  by  a  steep  hill  directly  in  their 
front.  Why  we  did  not  kill  more  of  them  than  we  did  was  be 
cause  they  were  dressed  so  like  our  own  Crows  that  even  our 
Shoshones  were  afraid  of  mistakes,  and  in  the  confusion  many 
of  the  Sioux  and  Oheyennes  made  their  way  down  the  face  of 
the  bluffs  unharmed. 

From  this  high  point  there  could  be  seen  on  Crook's  right 
and  rear  a  force  of  cavalry,  some  mounted,  others  dismounted, 
apparently  in  the  clutches  of  the  enemy  ;  that  is  to  say,  a  body 
of  hostiles  was  engaging  attention  in  front  and  at  the  same  time 
a  large  mass,  numbering  not  less  than  five  hundred,  was  get 
ting  ready  to  pounce  upon  the  rear  and  flank  of  the  unsuspect 
ing  Americans.  I  should  not  forget  to  say  that  while  the 
Shoshones  were  charging  the  enemy  on  one  flank,  the  Crows, 
led  by  Major  George  M.  Kandall,  were  briskly  attacking  them 
on  the  other  ;  the  latter  movement  had  been  ordered  by  Crook 
in  person  and  executed  in  such  a  bold  and  decisive  manner 
as  to  convince  the  enemy  that,  no  matter  what  their  numbers 
were,  our  troops  and  scouts  were  anxious  to  come  to  hand-to- 
hand  encounters  with  them.  This  was  really  the  turning-point 
of  the  Rosebud  fight  for  a  number  of  reasons  :  the  main  attack 
had  been  met  and  broken,  and  we  had  gained  a  key-point  ena 
bling  the  holder  to  survey  the  whole  field  and  realize  the  strength 
and  intentions  of  the  enemy.  The  loss  of  the  Sioux  at  this  place 
was  considerable  both  in  warriors  and  ponies  ;  we  were  at  one 
moment  close  enough  to  them  to  hit  them  with  clubs  or  "  coup  " 
sticks,  and  to  inflict  considerable  damage,  but  not  strong  enough 
to  keep  them  from  getting  away  with  their  dead  and  wounded. 
A  number  of  our  own  men  were  also  hurt,  some  of  them  quite 
seriously.  I  may  mention  a  young  trumpeter — Elmer  A.  Snow, 
of  Company  M,  Third  Cavalry — who  went  in  on  the  charge 
with  the  Shoshones,  one  of  the  few  white  men  with  them ;  he 
displayed  noticeable  gallantry,  and  was  desperately  wounded  in 
both  arms,  which  were  crippled  for  life  ;  his  escape  from  the 
midst  of  the  enemy  was  a  remarkable  thing. 


314          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

I  did  not  learn  until  nightfall  that  at  the  same  time  they 
made  the  charge  just  spoken  of;  the  enemy  had  also  rushed 
down  through  a  ravine  on  our  left  and  rear,  reaching  the  spring 
alongside  of  which  I  had  been  seated  with  General  Crook  at 
the  moment  the  first  shots  were  heard,  and  where  I  had  jotted 
down  the  first  lines  of  the  notes  from  which  the  above  con 
densed  account  of  the  fight  has  been  taken.  At  that  spring 
they  came  upon  a  young  Shoshone  boy,  not  yet  attained  to 
years  of  manhood,  and  shot  him  through  the  back  and  killed 
him,  taking  his  scalp  from  the  nape  of  the  neck  to  the  forehead, 
leaving  his  entire  skull  ghastly  and  white.  It  was  the  boy's 
first  battle,  and  when  the  skirmishing  began  in  earnest  he  asked 
permission  of  his  chief  to  go  back  to  the  spring  and  decorate 
himself  with  face-paint,  which  was  already  plastered  over  one 
cheek,  and  his  medicine  song  was  half  done,  when  he  received  the 
fatal  shot. 

Crook  sent  orders  for  all  troops  to  fall  back  until  the  line 
should  be  complete ;  some  of  the  detachments  had  ventured  out 
too  far,  and  our  extended  line  was  too  weak  to  withstand  a  deter 
mined  attack  in  force.  Burt  and  Burroughs  were  sent  with 
their  companies  of  the  Ninth  Infantry  to  drive  back  the  force 
which  was  congregating  in  the  rear  of  Roy  all's  command,  which 
was  the  body  of  troops  seen  from  the  hill  crest  almost  surrounded 
by  the  foe.  Tom  Moore  with  his  sharpshooters  from  the  pack- 
train,  and  several  of  the  Montana  miners  who  had  kept  along 
with  the  troops  for  the  sake  of  a  row  of  some  kind  with  the  na 
tives,  were  ordered  to  get  into  a  shelf  of  rocks  four  hundred  yards 
out  on  our  front  and  pick  off  as  many  of  the  hostile  chiefs  as 
possible  and  also  to  make  the  best  impression  upon  the  flanks 
of  any  charging  parties  which  might1  attempt  to  pass  on  either 
side  of  that  promontory.  Moore  worried  the  Indians  so  much 
that  they  tried  to  cut  off  him  and  his  insignificant  band.  It  was 
one  of  the  ridiculous  episodes  of  the  day  to  watch  those  well- 
meaning  young  warriors  charging  at  full  speed  across  the  open 
space  commanded  by  Moore's  position  ;  not  a  shot  was  fired,  and 
beyond  taking  an  extra  chew  of  tobacco,  I  do  not  remember  that 
any  of  the  party  did  anything  to  show  that  he  cared  a  conti 
nental  whether  the  enemy  came  or  stayed.  When  those  deadly 
rifles,  sighted  by  men  who  had  no  idea  what  the  word  "  nerves" 
meant,  belched  their  storm  of  lead  in  among  the  braves  and 


RECONNOITRING  THE  CANON.  315 

their  ponies,  it  did  not  take  more  than  seven  seconds  for  the 
former  to  conclude  that  home,  sweet  home  was  a  good  enough 
place  for  them. 

While  the  infantry  were  moving  down  to  close  the  gap  on 
Royall's  right,  and  Tom  Moore  was  amusing  himself  in  the  rocks, 
Crook  ordered  Mills  with  five  companies  to  move  out  on  our 
right  and  make  a  demonstration  down  stream,  intending  to  get 
ready  for  a  forward  movement  with  the  whole  command.  Mills 
moved  out  promptly,  the  enemy  falling  back  on  all  sides  and 
keeping  just  out  of  fair  range.  I  went  with  Mills,  having  re 
turned  from  seeing  how  Tom  Moore  was  getting  along,  and  can 
recall  how  deeply  impressed  we  all  were  by  what  we  then  took  to 
be  trails  made  by  buffaloes  going  down  stream,  but  which  we 
afterwards  learned  had  been  made  by  the  thousands  of  ponies  be 
longing  to  the  immense  force  of  the  enemy  here  assembled.  We 
descended  into  a  measly-looking  place  :  a  canon  with  straight 
walls  of  sandstone,  having  on  projecting  knobs  an  occasional 
scrub  pine  or  cedar  ;  it  was  the  locality  where  the  savages  had 
planned  to  entrap  the  troops,  or  a  large  part  of  them,  and 
wipe  them  out  by  closing  in  upon  their  rear.  At  the  head  of 
that  column  rode  two  men  who  have  since  made  their  mark  in 
far  different  spheres  :  John  F.  Finerty,  who  has  represented 
one  of  the  Illinois  districts  in  Congress;  and  Frederick  Schwatka, 
noted  as  a  bold  and  successful  Arctic  explorer. 

Crook  recalled  our  party  from  the  canon  before  we  had  gone 
too  far,  but  not  before  Mills  had  detected  the  massing  of  forces 
to  cut  him  off.  Our  return  was  by  another  route,  across  the 
high  hills  and  rocky  places,  which  would  enable  us  to  hold  our 
own  against  any  numbers  until  assistance  came.  Crook  next 
ordered  an  advance  of  our  whole  line,  and  the  Sioux  fell  back  and 
left  us  in  undisputed  possession  of  the  field.  Our  total  loss  was 
fifty-seven,  killed  or  wounded — some  of  the  latter  only  slightly. 
The  heaviest  punishment  had  been  inflicted  upon  the  Third  Cav 
alry,  in  RoyalFs  column,  that  regiment  meeting  with  a  total  loss 
of  nine  killed  and  fifteen  wounded,  while  the  Second  Cavalry 
had  two  wounded,  and  the  Fourth  Infantry  three  wounded.  In 
addition  to  this  were  the  killed  and  wounded  among  the  scouts, 
and  a  number  of  wounds  which  the  men  cared  for  themselves,  as 
they  saw  that  the  medical  staff  was  taxed  to  the  utmost.  One 
of  our  worst  wounded  was  Colonel  Guy  V.  Henry,  Third  Cavalry, 


316          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

who  was  at  first;  believed  to  have  lost  both  eyes  and  to  have 
been  marked  for  death  ;  but,  thanks  to  good  nursing,  a  wiry 
frame,  and  strong  vitality,  he  has  since  recovered  vision  and  some 
part  of  his  former  physical  powers.  The  officers  who  served  on 
Crook's  staff  that  day  had  close  calls,  and  among  others  Bubb 
and  Nickerson  came  very  near  falling  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy.  Colonel  Royall's  staff  officers,  Lemly  and  Foster,  were 
greatly  exposed,  as  were  Henry.  Vroom.,  Reynolds,  and  others  of 
that  part  of  the  command.  General  Crook's  horse  was  shot  from 
under  him,  and  there  were  few,  if  any,  officers  or  soldiers,  facing 
the  strength  of  the  Sioux  and  Cheyennes  at  the  Rosebud,  who  did 
not  have  some  incident  of  a  personal  nature  by  which  to  impress 
the  affair  upon  their  memories  for  the  rest  of  their  lives. 

The  enemy's  loss  was  never  known.  Our  scouts  got  thirteen 
scalps,  but  the  warriors,  the  moment  they  were  badly  wounded, 
would  ride  back  from  the  line  or  be  led  away  by  comrades,  so 
that  we  then  believed  that  their  total  loss  was  much  more  severe. 
The  behavior  of  Shoshones  and  Crows  was  excellent.  The  chief 
of  the  Shoshones  appeared  to  great  advantage,  mounted  on  a 
fiery  pony,  he  himself  naked  to  the  waist  and  wearing  one  of  the 
gorgeous  head-dresses  of  eagle  feathers  sweeping  far  along  the 
ground  behind  his  pony's  tail.  The  Crow  chief,  "  Medicine 
Crow,"  looked  like  a  devil  in  his  war-bonnet  of  feathers,  fur,  and 
buffalo  horns. 

"We  had  pursued  the  enemy  for  seven  miles,  and  had  held  the 
field  of  battle,  without  the  slightest  resistance  on  the  side  of  the 
Sioux  and  Cheyennes.  It  had  been  a  field  of  their  own  choosing, 
and  the  attack  had  been  intended  as  a  surprise  and,  if  possible, 
to  lead  into  an  ambuscade  also  ;  but  in  all  they  had  been  frus 
trated  and  driven  off,  and  did  not  attempt  to  return  or  to  annoy 
us  during  the  night.  As  we  had  nothing  but  the  clothing  each 
wore  and  the  remains  of  the  four  days'  rations  with  which  we 
had  started,  we  had  no  other  resource  but  to  make  our  way  back 
to  the  wagon  trains  with  the  wounded.  That  night  was  an  un 
quiet  and  busy  time  for  everybody.  The  Shoshones  caterwauled 
and  lamented  the  death  of  the  young  warrior  whose  life  had 
been  ended  and  whose  bare  skull  still  gleamed  from  the  side  of 
the  spring  where  he  fell.  About  midnight  they  buried  him, 
along  with  our  own  dead,  for  whose  sepulture  a  deep  trench  was 
dug  in  the  bank  of  the  Rosebud  near  the  water  line,  the  bodies 


BACK  TO   THE  WAGON-TRAINS.  317 

laid  in  a  row,  covered  with  stones,  mud,  and  earth,  packed  down, 
and  a  great  fire  kindled  on  top  and  allowed  to  burn  all  night. 
When  we  broke  camp  the  next  morning  the  entire  command 
marched  over  the  graves,  so  as  to  obliterate  every  trace  and  prevent 
prowling  savages  from  exhuming  the  corpses  and  scalping  them. 

A  rough  shelter  of  boughs  and  branches  had  been  erected  for 
the  wounded,  and  our  medical  officers,  Hartsuif,  Patzki,  and  Ste 
vens,  labored  all  night,  assisted  by  Lieutenant  Schwatka,  who  had 
taken  a  course  of  lectures  at  Bellevue  Hospital,  New  York.  The 
Shos hones  crept  out  during  the  night  and  cut  to  pieces  the  two 
Sioux  bodies  within  reach  ;  this  was  in  revenge  for  their  own 
dead,  and  because  the  enemy  had  cut  one  of  our  men  to  pieces 
during  the  fight,  in  which  they  made  free  use  of  their  lances, 
and  of  a  kind  of  tomahawk,  with  a  handle  eight  feet  long,  which 
they  used  on  horseback. 

June  18,  1876,  we  were  turned  out  of  our  blankets  at  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  sat  down  to  eat  on  the  ground  a 
breakfast  of  hard-tack,  coffee,  and  fried  bacon.  The  sky  was  an 
immaculate  blue,  and  the  ground  was  covered  with  a  hard  frost, 
which  made  every  one  shiver.  The  animals  had  rested,  and  the 
wounded  were  reported  by  Surgeon  Hartsuff  to  be  doing  as  well 
" as  could  be  expected."  "Travois"  were  constructed  of  cot- 
tonwood  and  willow  branches,  held  together  by  ropes  and  raw 
hide,  and  to  care  for  each  of  these  six  men  were  detailed.  As 
we  were  moving  off,  our  scouts  discerned  three  or  four  Sioux 
riding  down  to  the  battle-field,  upon  reaching  which  they  dis 
mounted,  sat  down,  and  bowed  their  heads ;  we  could  not  tell 
through  glasses  what  they  were  doing,  but  the  Shoshones  and 
Crows  said  that  they  were  weeping  for  their  dead.  They  were 
not  fired  upon  or  molested  in  any  way.  We  pushed  up  the  Rose 
bud,  keeping  mainly  on  its  western  bank,  and  doing  our  best  to 
select  a  good  trail  along  which  the  wounded  might  be  dragged 
with  least  jolting.  Crook  wished  to  keep  well  to  the  south  so  as 
to  get  farther  into  the  Big  Horn  range,  and  avoid  much  of  the 
deep  water  of  the  streams  flowing  into  Tongue  River,  which 
might  prove  too  swift  and  dangerous  for  the  wounded  men  in 
the  "travois."  In  avoiding  Scylla,  we  ran  upon  Charybdis  :  we 
escaped  much  of  the  deep  water,  although  not  all  of  it,  but  en 
countered  much  trouble  from  the  countless  ravines  and  gullies 
which  cut  the  flanks  of  the  range  in  every  direction. 


318  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

The  column  halted  for  an  hour  at  the  conical  hill,  crested  with 
pine,  which  marks  the  divide  between  the  Rosebud  and  the 
Greasy  Grass, — a  tributary  of  the  Little  Big  Horn, — the  spot 
where  our  Crow  guides  claimed  that  their  tribe  had  whipped  and 
almost  exterminated  a  band  of  the  Blackfeet  Sioux.  Our  horses 
were  allowed  to  graze  until  the  rear-guard  had  caught  up,  with 
the  wounded  men  under  its  care.  The  Crows  had  a  scalp  dance, 
holding  aloft  on  poles  and  lances  the  lank,  black  locks  of  the 
Sioux  and  Cheyennes  killed  in  the  fight  of  the  day  before,  and 
one  killed  that  very  morning.  It  seems  that  as  the  Crows 
were  riding  along  the  trail  off  to  the  right  of  the  command,  they 
heard  some  one  calling,  "Mini!  Mini!"  which  is  the  Dakota 
term  for  water ;  it  was  a  Cheyenne  whose  eyes  had  been  shot  out 
in  the  beginning  of  the  battle,  and  who  had  crawled  to  a  place  of 
concealment  in  the  rocks,  and  now  hearing  the  Crows  talk  as 
they  rode  along  addressed  them  in  Sioux,  thinking  them  to  be 
the  latter.  The  Crows  cut  him  limb  from  limb  and  ripped  off 
his  scalp.  The  rear-guard  reported  having  had  a  hard  time  get 
ting  along  with  the  wounded  on  account  of  the  great  number  of 
gullies  already  mentioned ;  great  assistance  had  been  rendered 
in  this  severe  duty  by  Sergeant  Warfield,  Troop  "T?,"  Third 
Cavalry,  an  old  Arizona  veteran,  as  well  as  by  Tom  Moore  and 
his  band  of  packers.  So  far  as  scenery  was  concerned,  the  most 
critical  would  have  been  pleased  with  that  section  of  our  national 
domain,  the  elysium  of  the  hunter,  the  home  of  the  bear,  the 
elk,  deer,  antelope,  mountain  sheep,  and  buffalo  ;  the  carcasses 
of  the  last-named  lined  the  trail,  and  the  skulls  and  bones 
whitened  the  hill-sides.  The  march  of  the  day  was  a  little  over 
twenty-two  miles,  and  ended  upon  one  of  the  tributaries  of  the 
Tongue,  where  we  bivouacked  and  passed  the  night  in  some  dis 
comfort  on  account  of  the  excessive  cold  which  drove  us  from 
our  scanty  covering  shortly  after  midnight.  The  Crows  left 
during  the  night,  promising  to  resume  the  campaign  with  others 
of  their  tribe,  and  to  meet  us  somewhere  on  the  Tongue  or  Goose 
Creek. 

June  19  found  us  back  at  our  wagon-train,  which  Major 
Furey  had  converted  into  a  fortress,  placed  on  a  tongue  of  land, 
surrounded  on  three  sides  by  deep,  swift-flowing  water,  and  on 
the  neck  by  a  line  of  breastworks  commanding  all  approaches. 
Ropes  and  chains  had  been  stretched  from  wheel  to  wheel,  so 


FUREY'S  CAMP  FORTRESS. 

that  even  if  any  of  the  enemy  did  succeed  in  slipping  inside,  the 
stock  could  not  be  run  out.  Furey  had  not  allowed  his  little 
garrison  to  remain  inside  the  intrenchments  :  he  had  insisted 
upon  some  of  them  going  out  daily  to  scrutinize  the  country  and 
to  hunt  for  fresh  meat ;  the  carcasses  of  six  buffaloes  and  three 
elk  attested  the  execution  of  his  orders.  Furey's  force  consisted 
of  no  less  than  eighty  packers  and  one  hundred  and  ten  team 
sters,  besides  sick  and  disabled  left  behind.  One  of  his  assistants 
was  Mr.  John  Mott  MacMahon,  the  same  man  who  as  a  sergeant 
in  the  Third  Cavalry  had  been  by  the  side  of  Lieutenant  Gush 
ing  at  the  moment  he  was  killed  by  the  Chiricahua  Apaches  in 
Arizona.  After  caring  for  the  wounded  and  the  animals,  every 
one  splashed  in  the  refreshing  current;  the  heat  of  the  afternoon 
became  almost  unbearable,  the  thermometer  indicating  103° 
Fahrenheit.  Lemons,  limes,  lime  juice,  and  citric  acid,  of  each 
of  which  there  was  a  small  supply,  were  hunted  up  and  used  for 
making  a  glass  of  lemonade  for  the  people  in  the  rustic  hospital. 
June  21,  Crook  sent  the  wounded  back  to  Fort  Fetterman, 
placing  them  in  wagons  spread  with  fresh  grass ;  Major  Furey 
was  sent  back  to  obtain  additional  supplies ;  the  escort,  consist 
ing  of  one  company  from  the  Ninth  and  one  from  the  Fourth 
Infantry,  was  commanded  by  Colonel  Chambers,  with  whom  were 
the  following  officers :  Munson  and  Capron  of  the  Ninth,  Luhn 
and  Seton  of  the  Fourth.  Mr.  MacMillan,  the  correspondent  of 
the  Inter- Ocean  of  Chicago,  also  accompanied  the  party;  he  had 
been  especially  energetic  in  obtaining  all  data  referring  to  the 
campaign,  and  had  shown  that  he  had  as  much  pluck  as  any  offi 
cer  or  soldier  in  the  column,  but  his  strength  was  not  equal  to 
the  hard  marching  and  climbing,  coupled  with  the  violent 
alternations  of  heat  and  cold,  rain  and  shine,  to  which  we  were 
subjected.  The  Shoshones  also  left  for  their  own  country,  going 
across  the  Big  Horn  range  due  west ;  after  having  a  big  scalp 
dance  with  their  own  people  they  would  return ;  for  the  same 
reason,  the  Crows  had  rejoined  their  tribe.  Five  of  the  Sho 
shones  remained  in  camp,  to  act  in  any  needed  capacity  until  the 
return  of  their  warriors.  The  care  taken  of  the  Shoshone 
wounded  pleased  me  very  much,  and  I  saw  that  the  "medicine 
men  "  knew  how  to  make  a  fair  article  of  splint  from  the  twigs 
of  the  willow,  and  that  they  depended  upon  such  appliances  in 
cases  of  fracture  fully  as  much  as  they  did  upon  the  singing 


320  ON  THE  BORDER   WITH  CROOK. 

which  took  up  so  much  of  their  time,  and  was  so  obnoxious  to 
the  unfortunate  whites  whose  tents  were  nearest. 

In  going  home  across  the  mountains  to  the  Wind  River  the 
Crows  took  one  of  their  number  who  had  been  badly  wounded  in 
the  thigh.  Why  he  insisted  upon  going  back  to  his  own  home  I 
do  not  know ;  perhaps  the  sufferer  really  did  not  know  himself, 
but  disliked  being  separated  from  his  comrades.  A  splint  was 
adjusted  to  the  fractured  limb,  and  the  patient  was  seated  upon 
an  easy  cushion  instead  of  a  saddle.  Everything  went  well  until 
after  crossing  the  Big  Horn  Mountains,  when  the  party  ran  in 
upon  a  band  of  Sioux  raiders  or  spies  in  strong  force.  The 
Crows  were  hailed  by  some  of  the  Sioux,  but  managed  to  answer 
a  few  words  in  that  language,  and  then  struck  out  as  fast  as 
ponies  would  carry  them  to  get  beyond  reach  of  their  enemies. 
They  were  afraid  of  leaving  a  trail,  and  for  that  reason  followed 
along  the  current  of  all  the  mountain  streams,  swollen  at  that 
season  by  rains  and  melting  snows,  fretting  into  foam  against 
impeding  boulders  and  crossed  and  recrossed  by  interlacing 
branches  of  fallen  timber.  Through  and  over  or  under,  as  the 
case  might  be,  the  frightened  Crows  made  their  way,  indifferent 
to  the  agony  of  the  wounded  companion,  for  whose  safety  only 
they  cared,  but  to  whose  moans  they  were  utterly  irresponsive. 
This  story  we  learned  upon  the  return  of  the  Shoshones. 

To  be  obliged  to  await  the  train  with  supplies  was  a  serious 
annoyance,  but  nothing  better  could  be  done.  We  had  ceded  to 
the  Sioux  by  the  treaty  of  1867  all  the  country  from  the  Missouri 
to  the  Big  Horn,  destroying  the  posts  which  had  afforded  protec 
tion  to  the  overland  route  into  Montana,  and  were  now  feeling 
the  loss  of  just  such  depots  of  supply  as  those  posts  would  have 
been.  It  was  patent  to  every  one  that  not  hundreds,  as  had  been 
reported,  but  thousands  of  Sioux  and  Cheyennes  were  in  hostility 
and  absent  from  the  agencies,  and  that,  if  the  war  was  to  be 
prosecuted  with  vigor,  some  depots  must  be  established  at  an 
eligible  location  like  the  head  of  Tongue  Eiver,  old  Fort  Reno, 
or  other  point  in  that  vicinity ;  another  in  the  Black  Hills  ;  and 
still  another  at  some  favorable  point  on  the  Yellowstone,  prefer 
ably  the  mouth  of  Tongue  Eiver.  Such,  at  least,  was  the 
recommendation  made  by  General  Crook,  and  posts  at  or  near  all 
the  sites  indicated  were  in  time  established  and  are  still  main 
tained.  The  merits  of  Tongue  River  and  its  tributaries  as 


ARRIVAL  OF  LIEUTENANT  SCHUYLER.  321 

great  trout  streams  were  not  long  without  proper  recognition  at 
the  hands  of  our  anglers.  Under  the  influence  of  the  warm 
weather  the  fish  had  begun  to  bite  voraciously,  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  there  were  always  squads  of  men  bathing  in  the  limpid 
waters,  or  mules  slaking  their  thirst.  The  first  afternoon 
ninety-five  were  caught  and  brought  into  camp,  where  they  were 
soon  broiling  on  the  coals  or  frying  in  pans.  None  of  them  were 
large,  but  all  were  "  pan  "  fish,  delicious  to  the  taste.  While 
the  sun  was  shining  we  were  annoyed  by  swarms  of  green  and 
black  flies,  which  disappeared  with  the  coming  of  night  and  its 
refreshingly  cool  breezes. 

June  23,  Lieutenant  Schuyler,  Fifth  Cavalry,  reported  at  head 
quarters  for  duty  as  aide-de-camp  to  General  Crook.  He  had 
been  four  days  making  the  trip  out  from  Fort  Fetterman,  trav 
elling  with  the  two  couriers  who  brought  our  mail.  At  old  Fort 
Eeno  they  had  stumbled  upon  a  war  party  of  Sioux,  but  were  not 
discovered,  and  hid  in  the  rocks  until  the  darkness  of  night  en 
abled  them  to  resume  their  journey  at  a  gallop,  which  never 
stopped  for  more  than  forty  miles.  They  brought  news  that  the 
Fifth  Cavalry  was  at  Red  Cloud  Agency  ;  that  five  commission 
ers  were  to  be  appointed  to  confer  with  the  Sioux ;  and  that 
Eutherford  B.  Hayes,  of  Ohio,  had  been  nominated  by  the  Re 
publicans  for  the  Presidency.  General  Hayes  had  commanded 
a  brigade  under  General  Crook  in  the  Army  of  West  Virginia 
during  the  War  of  the  Rebellion.  Crook  spoke  of  his  former 
subordinate  in  the  warmest  and  most  affectionate  manner,  in 
stancing  several  battles  in  which  Hayes  had  displayed  excep 
tional  courage,  and  proved  himself  to  be,  to  use  Crook's  words, 
ff  as  brave  a  man  as  ever  wore  a  shoulder-strap." 

My  note-books  about  this  time  seem  to  be  almost  the  chronicle 
of  a  sporting  club,  so  filled  are  they  with  the  numbers-  of  trout 
brought  by  different  fishermen  into  camp  ;  all  fishers  did  not 
stop  at  my  tent,  and  I  do  not  pretend  to  have  preserved  accurate 
figures,  much  being  left  unrecorded.  Mills  started  in  with  a 
record  of  over  one  hundred  caught  by  himself  and  two  soldiers 
in  one  short  afternoon.  On  the  28th  of  June  the  same  party  has 
another  record  of  one  hundred  and  forty-six.  On  the  29th  of 
same  month  Bubb  is  credited  with  fifty-five  during  the  after 
noon,  while  the  total  brought  into  camp  during  the  28th  ran  over 
five  hundred.  General  Crook  started  out  to  catch  a  mess,  but 
21 


322          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

met  with  poor  luck.  He  saw  bear  tracks  and  followed  them, 
bringing  in  a  good-sized  "cinnamon/'  so  it  was  agreed  not  to 
refer  to  his  small  number  of  trout.  Buffalo  and  elk  meat  were 
both  plenty,  and  with  the  trout  kept  the  men  well  fed. 

The  cavalry  companies  each  morning  were  exercised  at  a  walk, 
trot,  and  gallop.  In  the  afternoon  the  soldiers  were  allowed  to 
roam  about  the  country  in  small  parties,  hunting  and  seeing 
what  they  could  see.  They  were  all  the  better  for  the  exercise, 
and  acted  as  so  many  additional  videttes.  The  packers  organ 
ized  a  mule  race,  which  absorbed  all  interest.  It  was  estimated 
by  conservative  judges  that  fully  five  dollars  had  changed  hands  in 
ten-cent  bets.  Up  to  the  end  of  June  no  news  of  any  kind,  from 
any  source  excepting  Crow  Indians,  had  been  received  of  Gen 
eral  Terry  and  his  command,  and  much  comment,  not  unmixed 
with  uneasiness,  was  occasioned  thereby. 


CHAPTEE    XIX. 

KILLING  DULL  CAKE  IN  CAMP — EXPLORING  THE  SNOW-CRESTED 
BIG  HORN  MOUNTAINS — FINERTY  KILLS  HIS  FIRST  BUF 
FALO' — THE  SWIMMING  POOLS — A  BIG  TROUT — SIBLEY^S 
SCOUT — A  NARROW  ESCAPE — NEWS  OF  THE  CUSTER  MAS 
SACRE — THE  SIOUX  TRY  TO  BURN  US  OUT — THE  THREE 
MESSENGERS  FROM  TERRY — WASHAKIE  DRILLS  HIS  SHO- 
SHONES — KELLY  THE  COURIER  STARTS  TO  FIND  TERRY — 
CROW  INDIANS  BEARING  DESPATCHES  —  THE  SIGN-LAN 
GUAGE — A  PONY  RACE — INDIAN  SERENADES — HOW  THE 
SHOSHONES  FISHED — A  FIRE  IN  CAMP — THE  UTES  JOIN  US. 

IN  the  main,  this  absence  of  news  from  Terry  was  the  reason 
why  General  Crook  took  a  small  detachment  with  him  to 
the  summit  of  the  Big  Horn  Mountains  and  remained  four 
days.  We  left  camp  on  the  1st  of  July,  1876,  the  party  consist 
ing  of  General  Crook,  Colonel  Eoyall,  Lieutenant  Lemly,  Ma 
jor  Burt,  Lieutenants  Carpenter,  Schuyler,  and  Bourke,  Messrs. 
Wasson,  Finerty,  Strahorn,  and  Davenport,  with  a  small  train 
of  picked  mules  under  Mr.  Young.  The  climb  to  the  summit 
was  effected  without  event  worthy  of  note,  beyond  the  to-be- 
expected  ruggedness  of  the  trail  and  the  beauty  and  grandeur 
of  the  scenery.  From  the  highest  point  gained  during  the 
day  Crook  eagerly  scanned  the  broad  vista  of  country  spread 
out  at  our  feet,  reaching  from  the  course  of  the  Little  Big  Horn 
on  the  left  to  the  country  near  Pumpkin  Buttes  on  the  right. 
Neither  the  natural  vision  nor  the  aid  of  powerful  glasses  showed 
the  slightest  trace  of  a  marching  or  a  camping  column ;  there 
was  no  smoke,  no  dust,  to  indicate  the  proximity  of  either  Terry 
or  Gibbon. 

Frank  Gruard  had  made  an  inspection  of  the  country  to  the 
northwest  of  camp  several  days  before  to  determine  the  truth 
of  reported  smokes,  but  his  trip  failed  to  confirm  the  story. 
The  presence  of  Indians  near  camp  had  also  been  asserted,  but 
scouting  parties  had  as  yet  done  nothing  beyond  proving  these 


324  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

cainp  rumors  to  be  baseless.  In  only  one  instance  had  there 
been  the  slightest  reason  for  believing  that  hostiles  had  ap 
proached  our  position.  An  old  man,  who  had  been  following 
the  command  for  some  reason  never  very  clearly  understood,  had 
come  into  camp  on  Tongue  River  and  stated  that  while  out  on 
the  plain,  letting  his  pony  have  a  nibble  of  grass,  and  while  he 
himself  had  been  sleeping  under  a  box  elder,  he  had  been  awak 
ened  by  the  report  of  a  gun  and  had  seen  two  Indian  boys  scam 
pering  off  to  the  north :  he  showed  a  bullet  hole  through  the 
saddle,  but  the  general  opinion  in  camp  was  that  the  story  had 
been  made  up  out  of  whole  cloth,  because  parties  of  men  had 
been  much  farther  down  Tongue  .River  that  morning,  scouting 
and  hunting,  without  perceiving  the  slightest  sign  or  trace  of 
hostiles.  Thirty  miners  from  Montana  had  also  come  into  camp 
from  the  same  place,  and  they  too  had  been  unable  to  discover 
traces  of  the  assailants. 

The  perennial  character  of  the  springs  and  streams  watering 
the  pasturage  of  the  Tongue  Eiver  region  was  shown  by  the  great 
masses  of  snow  and  ice,  which  were  slowly  yielding  to  the  as 
saults  of  the  summer  sun  on  the  flanks  of  "  Cloud  Peak  "  and 
its  sister  promontories.  Every  few  hundred  yards  gurgling  riv 
ulets  and  crystal  brooks  leaped  down  from  the  protecting  shadow 
of  pine  •  and  juniper  groves  and  sped  away  to  join  the  Tongue, 
which  warned  us  of  its  own  near  presence  in  a  canon  on  the  left 
of  the  trail  by  the  murmur  of  its  current  flowing  swiftly  from 
basin  to  basin  over  a  succession  of  tiny  falls.  Exuberant  Nature 
had  carpeted  the  knolls  and  dells  with  vernal  grasses  and  lovely 
flowers ;  along  the  brook-sides,  wild  rose-buds  peeped  ;  and 
there  were  harebells,  wild  flax,  forget-me-nots,  and  astragulus 
to  dispute  with  their  more  gaudy  companions — the  sunflowers — 
possession  of  the  soil.  The  silicious  limestones,  red  clays,  and 
sandstones  of  the  valley  were  replaced  by  granites  more  or  less 
perfectly  crystallized.  Much  pine  and  fir  timber  was  encount 
ered,  at  first  in  small  copses,  then  in  more  considerable  bodies, 
lastly  in  dense  forests.  A  very  curious  variety  of  juniper  made 
its  appearance  :  it  was  very  stunted,  grew  prone  to  the  ground, 
and  until  approached  closely  might  be  mistaken  for  a  bed  of 
moss.  In  the  protecting  solitude  of  these  frozen  peaks,  lakes 
of  melted  snow  were  frequent ;  upon  their  pellucid  surface  ducks 
swam  gracefully,  admiring  their  own  reflection. 


SEVERE  MARCHING.  325 

We  did  not  get  across  the  snowy  range  that  night,  but  were 
compelled  to  bivouac  two  or  three  miles  from  it,  in  a  sheltered 
nook  offering  fairly  good  grass  for  the  mules,  and  any  amount 
of  fuel  and  water  for  our  own  use.  There  might  be  said  to  be 
an  excess  of  timber,  as  for  more  than  six  miles  we  had  crawled 
as  best  we  could  through  a  forest  of  tall  pines  and  firs,  uprooted 
by  the  blasts  of  winter.  G-ame  trails  were  plenty  enough,  but 
we  did  not  see  an  animal  of  any  kind  ;  neither  could  we  entice 
the  trout  which  were  jumping  to  the  surface  of  the  water,  to 
take  hold  of  the  bait  offered  them.  General  Crook  returned 
with  a  black-tailed  deer  and  the  report  that  the  range  as  seen 
from  the  top  of  one  of  the  lofty  promontories  to  which  he  had 
climbed  appeared  to  be  studded  with  lakelets  similar  to  the  ones 
so  near  our  bivouac.  We  slashed  pine  branches  to  make  an 
odorous  and  elastic  mattress,  cut  fire-wood  for  the  cook,  and 
aided  in  the  duty  of  preparing  the  supper  for  which  impatient 
appetites  were  clamoring.  We  had  hot  strong  coffee,  bacon 
and  venison  sliced  thin  and  placed  in  alternate  layers  on  twigs 
of  willow  and  frizzled  over  the  embers,  and  bread  baked  in  a 
frying-pan. 

Our  appetites,  ordinarily  good  enough,  had  been  aggravated 
by  the  climb  of  twelve  miles  in  the  keen  mountain  air,  and 
although  epicures  might  not  envy  us  our  food,  they  certainly 
would  have  sighed  in  vain  for  the  pleasure  with  which  it  was 
devoured.  After  supper,  each  officer  staked  his  mule  in  a  patch 
of  grass  which  was  good  and  wholesome,  although  not  equal  to 
that  of  the  lower  slopes,  and  then  we  gathered  around  the  fire 
for  the  post-prandial  chat  prior  to  seeking  blankets  and  repose, 
which  fortunately  was  not  disturbed  by  excessive  cold  or  the 
bites  of  mosquitoes,  the  twin  annoyances  of  these  great  eleva 
tions.  We  arose  early  next  morning  to  begin  a  march  of  great 
severity,  which  taxed  to  the  utmost  the  strength,  nervous  system, 
and  patience  of  riders  and  mules  ;  much  fallen  timber  blocked 
the  trail,  the  danger  of  passing  this  being  increased  a  hundred 
fold  by  boulders  of  granite  and  pools  of  unknown  depth ;  the 
leaves  of  the  pines  had  decayed  into  a  pasty  mass  of  peat,  afford 
ing  no  foothold  to  the  pedestrian  or  horseman,  and  added  the 
peril  of  drowning  in  a  slimy  ooze  to  the  terrors  accumulated 
for  the  intimidation  of  the  explorer  penetrating  these  wilds. 

We  floundered  along  in  the  trail  made  by  our  Shoshones  on 


326  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

their  way  back  to  their  own  homes,  and  were  the  first  white  men, 
not  connected  with  that  band  of  Indians,  who  had  ever  ascended 
to  this  point.  Immense  blocks  of  granite,  some  of  them  hun 
dreds  of  feet  high,  towered  above  us,  with  stunted  pine  clinging 
to  the  scanty  soil  at  their  bases  ;  above  all  loomed  the  majestic 
rounded  cone  of  the  Cloud  Peak,  a  thousand  feet  beyond  timber 
line.  The  number  of  springs  increased  so  much  that  it  seemed 
as  if  the  ground  were  oozing  water  "from  every  pore  ;  the 
soil  had  become  a  sponge,  and  travel  was  both  difficult  and  dan 
gerous  ;  on  all  sides  were  lofty  banks  of  snow,  often  pinkish  in 
tint ;  the  stream  in  the  pass  had  diminished  in  breadth,  but  its 
volume  was  unimpaired  as  its  velocity  had  trebled.  At  every 
twenty  or  thirty  feet  of  horizontal  distance  there  was  a  cascade 
of  no  great  height,  but  so  choked  up  with  large  fragments  of 
granite  that  the  current,  lashed  into  fury,  foamed  like  milk. 
The  sun's  rays  were  much  obscured  by  the  interlacing  branches 
of  the  majestic  spruce  and  fir  trees  shading  the  trail,  and  the 
rocky  escarpments  looming  above  the  timber  line.  We  could 
still  see  the  little  rivulet  dancing  along,  and  hear  it  singing  its 
song  of  the  icy  granite  peaks,  the  frozen  lakes,  and  piny  soli 
tudes  that  had  watched  its  birth.  The  "  divide/'  we  began 
to  congratulate  ourselves,  could  not  be  far  off ;  already  the 
pines  had  begun  to  thin  out,  and  the  stragglers  still  lining  the 
path  were  dwarfed  and  stunted.  Our  pretty  friend,  the  moun 
tain  brook,  like  a  dying  swan,  sang  most  sweetly  in  its  last  mo 
ments  ;  we  saw  it  issue  from  icy  springs  above  timber  line,  and 
bade  it  farewell  to  plunge  and  flounder  across  the  snow-drifts 
lining  the  crest.  In  this  last  effort  ourselves  and  animals  were 
almost  exhausted.  On  the  "  divide  "  was  a  lake,  not  over  five 
hundred  yards  long,  which  supplied  water  to  the  Big  Horn  on 
the  west  and  the  Tongue  on  the  east  side  of  the  range.  Large 
cakes  and  floes  of  black  ice,  over  a  foot  in  thickness,  floated  on 
its  waters.  Each  of  these  was  covered  deep  with  snow  and  re 
gelated  ice. 

It  was  impossible  to  make  camp  in  this  place.  There  was  no 
timber — nothing  but  rocks  and  ice-cold  water,  which  chilled  the 
hands  dipped  into  it.  Granite  and  granite  alone  could  be  seen  in 
massy  crags,  timberless  and  barren  of  all  trace  of  vegetation,  tow 
ering  into  the  clouds,  in  bold-faced  ledges,  the  home  of  the  moun 
tain  sheep  ;  and  in  cyclopean  blocks,  covering  acres  upon  acres  of 


SNOW  SEVENTY  FEET  DEEP.  337 

surface.  Continuing  due  west  we  clambered  over  another  ridge  of 
about  the  same  elevation,  and  as  deep  with  snow  and  ice,  and 
then  saw  in  the  distance  the  Wind  River  range,  one  hundred  and 
thirty  miles  to  the  west.  With  some  difficulty  a  way  was  made 
down  the  flank  of  the  range,  through  the  asperous  declivities  of 
the  cation  of  (( No  Wood  "  Creek,  and,  after  being  sated  with  the 
monotonous  beauties  of  precipices,  milky  cascades,  gloomy  forests, 
and  glassy  springs,  the  welcome  command  was  given  to  bivouac. 

We  had  climbed  and  slipped  fifteen  miles  at  an  altitude  of 
12,000  feet,  getting  far  above  the  timber  line  and  into  the  region 
of  perpetual  snow.  Still,  at  that  elevation,  a  few  pleasant-faced 
little  blue  and  white  flowers,  principally  forget-me-nots,  kept  us 
company  to  the  very  edge  of  snow-banks.  I  sat  upon  a  snow 
bank,  and  with  one  hand  wrote  my  notes  and  with  the  other 
plucked  forget-me-nots  or  fought  off  the  mosquitoes.  We  fol 
lowed  down  the  cafion  of  the  creek  until  we  had  reached  the 
timber,  and  there,  in  a  dense  growth  of  spruce  and  fir,  went  into 
bivouac  in  a  most  charming  retreat.  Buffalo  tracks  were  seen  all 
day,  the  animal  having  crossed  the  range  by  the  same  trail  we 
had  used.  Besides  buffalo  tracks  we  saw  the  trails  of  mountain 
sheep,  of  which  General  Crook  and  Lieutenant  Schuyler  killed 
two.  The  only  other  life  was  tit-larks,  butterflies,  grasshoppers, 
flies,  and  the  mosquitoes  already  spoken  of.  The  snow  in  one 
place  was  sixty  to  seventy  feet  deep  and  had  not  been  disturbed 
for  years,  because  there  were  five  or  six  strata  of  grasshoppers 
frozen  stiff,  each  representing  one  season.  In  all  cases  where  the 
snow  had  drifted  into  sheltered  ravines  and  was  not  exposed  to 
direct  solar  action,  it  never  melted  from  year's  end  to  year's  end. 
Our  supper  of  mountain  mutton  and  of  sheep  and  elk  heart 
boiled  in  salt  water  was  eaten  by  the  light  of  the  fire,  and  was 
followed  by  a  restful  sleep  upon  couches  of  spruce  boughs. 

We  returned  to  our  main  camp  on  the  4th  of  July,  guided  by 
General  Crook  over  a  new  trail,  which  proved  to  be  a  great  improve 
ment  upon  the  other.  Mr.  John  F.  Finerty  killed  his  first  buffalo, 
which  appeared  to  be  a  very  good  specimen  at  the  time,  but  after 
perusing  the  description  given  by  Finerty  in  the  columns  of  the 
Times,  several  weeks  later,  we  saw  that  it  must  have  been  at 
least  eleven  feet  high  and  weighed  not  much  less  than  nine  thou 
sand  pounds.  We  made  chase  after  a  herd  of  sixteen  elk  drink 
ing  at  one  of  the  lakes,  but  on  account  of  the  noise  in  getting 


328          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

through  fallen  timber  were  unable  to  approach  near  enough.  An 
hour  later,  while  I  was  jotting  down  the  character  of  the  coun 
try  in  my  note-book,  eight  mountain  sheep  came  up  almost  close 
enough  to  touch  me,  and  gazed  with  wonder  at  the  intruder. 
They  were  beautiful  creatures  in  appearance  :  somewhat  of  a 
cross  between  the  deer,  the  sheep,  and  the  mule  ;  the  head  re 
sembles  that  of  the  domestic  sheep,  surmounted  by  a  pair  of 
ponderous  convoluted  horns ;  the  body,  in  a  slight  degree,  that 
of  a  mule,  but  much  more  graceful ;  and  the  legs  those  of  a  deer, 
but  somewhat  more  "chunky;"  the  tail,  short,  slender,  fur 
nished  with  a  brush  at  the  extremity  ;  the  hair,  short  and  choco 
late-gray  in  color ;  the  eyes  rival  the  beauty  of  the  topaz.  Be 
fore  I  could  grasp  my  carbine  they  had  scampered  around  a 
rocky  promontory,  where  three  of  them  were  killed  :  one  by  Gen 
eral  Crook  and  two  by  others  of  the  party. 

Camp  kept  moving  from  creek  to  creek  in  the  valley  of  the 
Tongue,  always  finding  abundant  pasturage,  plenty  of  fuel,  and 
an  ample  supply  of  the  coldest  and  best  water.  The  foot-hills 
of  the  Big  Horn  are  the  ideal  camping-grounds  for  mounted 
troops  ;  the  grass  grows  to  such  a  height  that  it  can  be  cut  with 
a  mowing-machine  ;  cattle  thrive,  and  although  the  winters  are 
severe,  with  proper  shelter  all  kinds  of  stock  should  prosper. 
The  opportunity  of  making  a  suitable  cross  between  the  accli 
matized  buffalo  and  the  domestic  stock  has  perhaps  been  lost, 
but  it  is  not  too  late  to  discuss  the  advisability  of  introduc 
ing  the  Thibetan  yak,  a  bovine  accustomed  to  the  polar  rigors 
of  the  Himalayas,  and  which  has  been  tamed  and  used  either  for 
the  purposes  of  the  dairy  or  for  those  of  draught  and  saddle. 
The  body  of  the  yak  is  covered  with  a  long  coat  of  hair,  which 
enables  it  to  lie  down  in  the  snow-drifts  without  incurring  any 
risk  of  catching  cold.  The  milk  of  the  yak  is  said  to  be  remark 
ably  rich,  and  the  butter  possesses  the  admirable  quality  of  keep 
ing  fresh  for  a  long  time. 

This  constant  moving  of  camp  had  another  object  :  the  troops 
were  kept  in  practice  in  taking  down  and  putting  up  tents ;  sad 
dling  and  unsaddling  horses  ;  packing  and  unpacking  wagons ; 
laying  out  camps,  with  a  due  regard  for  hygiene  by  building 
sinks  in  proper  places ;  forming  promptly ;  and,  above  all,  were 
kept  occupied.  The  raw  recruits  of  the  spring  were  insensibly 
converted  into  veterans  before  the  close  of  summer.  The  credu- 


FISHING  EXTRAORDINARY.  329 

lity  of  the  reader  will  be  taxed  to  the  utmost  limit  if  he  follow 
my  record  of  the  catches  of  trout  made  in  all  these  streams. 
What  these  catches  would  have  amounted  to  had  there  been  no 
herds  of  horses  and  mules — we  had,  it  must  be  remembered,  over 
two  thousand  when  the  wagon-trains,  pack-trains,  Indian  scouts, 
and  soldiers  were  all  assembled  together — I  am  unable  to  say ; 
but  the  hundreds  and  thousands  of  fine  fish  taken  from  that  set 
of  creeks  by  officers  and  soldiers,  who  had  nothing  but  the  rudest 
appliances,  speaks  of  the  wonderful  resources  of  the  country  in 
game  at  that  time. 

The  ambition  of  the  general  run  of  officers  and  men  was  to 
take  from  fifteen  to  thirty  trout,  enough  to  furnish  a  good  meal 
for  themselves  and  their  messmates  ;  but  others  were  carried 
away  by  the  desire  to  make  a  record  as  against  that  of  other  fish 
ers  of  repute.  These  catches  were  carefully  distributed  through 
out  camp,  and  the  enlisted  men  fared  as  well  as  the  officers  in  the 
matter  of  game  and  everything  else  which  the  country  afforded. 
General  Crook  and  the  battalion  commanders  under  him  were 
determined  that  there  should  be  no  waste,  and  insisted  upon  the 
fish  being  eaten  at  once  or  dried  for  later  use.  Major  Dewees  is 
credited  with  sixty-eight  large  fish  caught  in  one  afternoon, 
Bubb  with  eighty,  Crook  with  seventy,  and  so  on.  Some  of 
the  packers  having  brought  in  reports  of  beautiful  deep  pools 
farther  up  the  mountain,  in  which  lay  hidden  fish  far  greater  in 
size  and  weight  than  those  caught  closer  to  camp,  a  party  was 
formed  at  headquarters  to  investigate  and  report.  Our  prin 
cipal  object  was  to  enjoy  the  cool  swimming  pools  so  eloquently 
described  by  our  informants ;  but  next  to  that  we  intended  try 
ing  our  luck  in  hauling  in  trout  of  exceptional  size. 

The  rough  little  bridle-path  led  into  most  romantic  scenery : 
the  grim  walls  of  the  cation  began  to  crowd  closely  upon  the  banks 
of  the  stream  ;  in  places  there  was  no  bank  at  all,  and  the  swirl 
ing,  brawling  current  rushed  along  the  rocky  wall,  while  our 
ponies  carefully  picked  their  way  over  a  trail,  narrow,  sharp,  and 
dangerous  as  the  knife-edge  across  which  true  believers  were  to 
enter  into  Mahomet's  Paradise.  Before  long  we  gained  a  mossy 
glade,  hidden  in  the  granite  ramparts  of  the  cation,  where  we 
found  a  few  blades  of  grass  for  the  animals  and  shade  from  the  too 
warm  rays  of  the  sun.  The  moss-covered  banks  terminated  in  a 
flat  stone  table,  reaching  well  out  into  the  current  and  shaded  by 


330          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

overhanging  boulders  and  widely-branching  trees.  The  dark- 
green  water  in  front  rushed  swiftly  and  almost  noiselessly  by, 
but  not  more  than  five  or  six  yards  below  our  position  several 
sharp-toothed  fragments  of  granite  barred  the  progress  of  the 
current,  which  grew  white  with  rage  as  it  hissed  and  roared  on 
its  downward  course. 

We  disrobed  and  entered  the  bath,  greatly  to  the  astonishment 
of  a  school  of  trout  of  all  sizes  which  circled  about  and  darted  in 
and  out  among  the  rocks,  trying  to  determine  who  and  what  we 
were.  We  were  almost  persuaded  that  we  were  the  first  white 
men  to  penetrate  to  that  seclusion.  Our  bath  was  delightful ; 
everything  combined  to  make  it  so — shade,  cleanliness,  conven 
ience  of  access,  purity  and  coolness  of  the  water,  and  such  perfect 
privacy  that  Diana  herself  might  have  chosen  it  for  her  ablu 
tions  !  Splash  !  splash  ! — a  sound  below  us  !  The  illusion  was 
very  strong,  and  for  a  moment  we  were  willing  to  admit  that  the 
classical  huntress  had  been  disturbed  at  her  toilet,  and  that  we 
were  all  to  share  the  fate  of  Actseon.  Our  apprehensions  didn't 
last  long ;  we  peeped  through  the  foliage  and  saw  that  it  was 
not  Diana,  but  an  army  teamster  washing  a  pair  'of  unques 
tionably  muddy  overalls.  Our  bath  finished,  we  took  our  stand 
upon  projecting  rocks  and  cast  bait  into  the  stream. 

We  were  not  long  in  finding  out  the  politics  of  the  Big  Horn 
trout ;  they  were  McKinleyites,  every  one  ;  or,  to  speak  more 
strictly,  they  were  the  forerunners  of  McKinleyism.  We  tried 
them  with  all  sorts  of  imported  and  manufactured  flies  of  gaudy 
tints  or  sombre  hues — it  made  no  difference.  After  suspiciously 
nosing  them  they  would  flap  their  tails,  strike  with  the  side-fins, 
and  then,  having  gained  a  distance  of  ten  feet,  would  most  pro- 
vokingly  stay  there  and  watch  us  from  under  the  shelter  of  slip 
pery  rocks.  Foreign  luxuries  evidently  had  no  charm  for  them. 
Next  we  tried  them  with  home-made  grasshoppers,  caught  on 
the  banks  of  their  native  stream.  The  change  was  wonderful  : 
in  less  than  a  second,  trout  darted  out  from  all  sorts  of  unex 
pected  places — from  the  edge  of  the  rapids  below  us,  from  under 
gloomy  blocks  of  granite,  from  amid  the  gnarly  roots  of  almost 
amphibious  trees.  My  comrades  had  come  for  an  afternoon's 
fishing,  and  began,  without  more  ado,  to  haul  in  the  struggling, 
quivering  captives.  My  own  purpose  was  to  catch  one  or  two 
of  good  size,  and  then  return  to  camp.  A  teamster,  named 


A  RECONNOITRING  PARTY.  331 

O'Shaughnessy,  formerly  of  the  Fourteenth  Infantry,  who  had 
been  brought  up  in  the  salmon  districts  of  Ireland,  was  standing 
near  me  with  a  large  mess  just  caught  ;  he  handed  me  his  willow 
branch,  most  temptingly  baited  with  grasshoppers,  at  the  same 
time  telling  me  there  was  a  fine  big  fish,  "  a  regular  buster,  in 
the  hole  beyant."  He  had  been  unable  to  coax  him  out  from  his 
retreat,  but  thought  that,  if  anything  could  tempt  him,  my  bait 
would.  I  cautiously  let  down  the  line,  taking  care  to  keep  in 
the  deepest  shadow.  I  did  not  remain  long  in  suspense  ;  in  an 
instant  the  big  fellow  came  at  full  speed  from  his  hiding-place, 
running  for  the  bait.  He  was  noble,  heavy,  and  gorgeous  in  his 
dress  of  silver  and  gold  and  black  and  red.  He  glanced  at  the 
grasshoppers  to  satisfy  himself  they  were  the  genuine  article,  and 
then  one  quick,  nervous  bound  brought  his  nose  to  the  hook  and 
the  bait  into  his  mouth,  and  away  he  went.  I  gave  him  all  the 
line  he  wanted,  fearing  I  should  lose  him.  His  course  took  him 
close  to  the  bank,  and,  as  he  neared  the  edge  of  the  stream,  I 
laid  him,  with  a  quick,  firm  jerk,  sprawling  on  the  moss.  I  was 
glad  not  to  have  had  any  fight  with  him,  because  he  would 
surely  have  broken  away  amid  the  rocks  and  branches.  He  was 
pretty  to  look  upon,  weighed  three  pounds,  and  was  the  largest 
specimen  reaching  camp  that  week.  He  graced  our  dinner, 
served  up,  roasted  and  stuffed,  in  our  cook  Phillips's  best  style. 

General  Crook,  wishing  to  ascertain  with  some  definiteness  the 
whereabouts  of  the  Sioux,  sent  out  during  the  first  week  of  July 
a  reconnoitring  party  of  twenty  enlisted  men,  commanded  by 
Lieutenant  Sibley,  Second  Cavalry,  to  escort  Frank  Gruard,  who 
wished  to  move  along  the  base  of  the  mountains  as  far  as  the 
canon  of  the  Big  Horn  and  scrutinize  the  country  to  the  north 
and  west.  A  larger  force  would  be  likely  to  embarrass  the  rapidity 
of  marching  with  which  Gruard  hoped  to  accomplish  his  inten 
tion,  which  was  that  of  spying  as  far  as  he  could  into  the  region 
where  he  supposed  the  hostiles  to  be  ;  all  the  party  were  to  go  as 
lightly  equipped  as  possible,  and  to  carry  little  else  than  arms 
and  ammunition.  With  them  went  two  volunteers,  Mr.  John  F. 
Finerty  and  Mr.  Jim  Traynor,  the  latter  one  of  the  packers  and 
an  old  frontiersman.  Another  member  of  the  party  was  "  Big 
Bat." 

This  little  detachment  had  a  miraculous  escape  from  destruc 
tion  :  at  or  near  the  head  of  the  Little  Big  Horn  River,  they  were 


332          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

discovered,  charged  upon,  and  surrounded  by  a  large  body  of 
hostile  Oheyennes  and  Sioux,,  who  fired  a  volley  of  not  less  than 
one  hundred  shots,  but  aimed  too  high  and  did  not  hit  a  man  ; 
three  of  the  horses  and  one  of  the  mules  were  severely  crippled, 
and  the  command  was  forced  to  take  to  the  rocks  and  timber  at 
the  edge  of  the  mountains,  whence  they  escaped,  leaving  animals 
and  saddles  behind.  The  savages  seemed  confident  of  their 
ability  to  take  all  of  them  alive,  which  may  explain  in  part  why 
they  succeeded  in  slipping  away  under  the  guidance  of  Frank 
Gruard,  to  whom  the  whole  country  was  as  familiar  as  a  book ; 
they  crept  along  under  cover  of  high  rocks  until  they  had  gained 
the  higher  slopes  of  the  range,  and  then  travelled  without  stop 
ping  for  two  days  and  nights,  pursued  by  the  baffled  Indians, 
across  steep  precipices,  swift  torrents,  and  through  almost  im 
penetrable  forests.  When  they  reached  camp  the  whole  party 
looked  more  like  dead  men  than  soldiers  of  the  army  :  their 
clothes  were  torn  into  rags,  their  strength  completely  gone,  and 
they  faint  with  hunger  and  worn  out  with  anxiety  and  distress. 
Two  of  the  men,  who  had  not  been  long  in  service,  went  com 
pletely  crazy  and  refused  to  believe  that  the  tents  which  they 
saw  were  those  of  the  command  ;  they  persisted  in  thinking  that 
they  were  the  "  tepis "  of  the  Sioux  and  Cheyennes,  and  would 
not  accompany  Sibley  across  the  stream,  but  remained  hiding  in 
the  rocks  until  a  detachment  had  been  sent  out  to  capture  and 
bring  them  back.  It  should  be  mentioned  that  one  of  the 
Cheyenne  chiefs,  ( '  White  Antelope,"  was  shot  through  the  head 
by  Frank  G-ruard  and  buried  in  all  his  fine  toggery  on  the  ground 
where  he  fell ;  his  body  was  discovered  some  days  after  by 
"  Washakie,"  the  head-chief  of  the  Shoshones,  who  led  a  large 
force  of  his  warriors  to  the  spot.  General  Crook,  in  forwarding 
to  General  Sheridan  Lieutenant  Sibley's  report  of  the  affair, 
indorsed  it  as  follows:  "I  take  occasion  to  express  my  grate 
ful  appreciation  to  the  guides,  Frank  Gruard  and  Baptiste  Pour- 
rier,  to  Messrs.  Bechtel,  called  Traynor  in  my  telegram,  and  John 
F.  Finerty,  citizen  volunteers,  and  to  the  small  detachment  of 
picked  men  from  the  Second  Cavalry,  for  their  cheerful  endurance 
of  the  hardships  and  perils  such  peculiarly  dangerous  duty  of 
necessity  involves.  The  coolness  and  judgment  displayed  by 
Lieutenant  Sibley  and  Frank  Gruard,  the  guide,  in  the  conduct 
of  this  reconnaissance,  made  in  the  face  of  the  whole  force  of  the 


CROOK'S  ANXIETY  FOR  TERRY  AND  GIBBON.  333 

enemy,  are  deserving  of  my  warmest;  acknowledgments.  Lieu 
tenant  Sibley,  although  one  of  the  youngest  officers  in  this 
department,  has  shown  a  gallantry  that  is  an  honor  to  himself 
and  the  service."  A  very  vivid  and  interesting  description  of 
this  perilous  affair  has  been  given  by  Fmerty  in  his  fascinating 
volume,  "War-Path  and  Bivouac/'  During  the  absence  of  the 
Sibley  party  General  Crook  ascended  the  mountains  to  secure 
meat  for  the  command  ;  we  had  a  sufficiency  of  bacon,  and  all 
the  trout  the  men  could  possibly  eat,  but  fresh  meat  was  not  to 
be  had  in  quantity,  and  the  amount  of  deer,  elk,  antelope,  and 
bear  brought  in  by  our  hunters,  although  considerable  in  itself, 
cut  no  figure  when  portioned  out  among  so  many  hundreds  of 
hungry  mouths.  The  failure  to  hear  from  Terry  or  Gibbon  dis 
tressed  Crook  a  great  deal  more  than  he  cared  to  admit ;  he 
feared  for  the  worst,  obliged  to  give  ear  to  all  the  wild  stories 
brought  in  by  couriers  and  others  reaching  the  command  from 
the  forts  and  agencies.  By  getting  to  the  summit  of  the  high 
peaks  which  overlooked  our  camps  in  the  drainage  of  the  Tongue, 
the  surrounding  territory  for  a  distance  of  at  least  one  hundred 
miles  in  every  direction  could  be  examined  through  glasses,  and 
anything  unusual  going  on  detected.  Every  afternoon  we  were 
now  subjected  to  storms  of  rain  and  lightning,  preceded  by  gusts 
of  wind.  They  came  with  such  regularity  that  one  could  almost 
set  his  watch  by  them. 

Major  Noyes,  one  of  our  most  earnest  fishermen,  did  not  return 
from  one  of  his  trips,  and,  on  account  of  the  very  severe  storm 
assailing  us  that  afternoon,  it  was  feared  that  some  accident  had 
befallen  him  :  that  he  had  been  attacked  by  a  bear  or  other  wild 
animal,  had  fallen  over  some  ledge  of  rocks,  been  carried  away 
in  the  current  of  the  stream,  or  in  some  other  manner  met  with 
disaster.  Lieutenant  Kingsbury,  Second  Cavalry,  went  out  to 
hunt  him,  accompanied  by  a  mounted  detachment  and  a  hound. 
Noyes  was  found  fast  asleep  under  a  tree,  completely  exhausted 
by  his  hard  work  :  he  was  afoot  and  unable  to  reach  camp  with 
his  great  haul  of  fish,  over  one  hundred  and  ten  in  number ;  he 
had  played  himself  out,  but  had  broken  the  record,  and  was 
snoring  serenely.  Mr.  Stevens,  chief  clerk  for  Major  Furey,  the 
quartermaster,  was  another  sportsman  whose  chief  delight  -in 
life  seemed  to  be  in  tearing  the  clothes  off  his  back  in  efforts  to 
get  more  and  bigger  fish  than  any  one  else. 


334          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Word  came  in  from  General  Crook  to  send  pack  mules  to  a 
locality  indicated,  where  the  carcasses  of  fourteen  elk  and  other 
game  for  the  command  had  been  tied  to  the  branches  of  trees. 
It  was  not  until  the  10th  of  July,  1876,  that  Louis  Eichaud  and 
Ben  Arnold  rode  into  camp,  bearing  despatches  from  Sheridan  to 
Crook  with  the  details  of  the  terrible  disaster  which  had  over 
whelmed  the  troops  commanded  by  General  Custer ;  the  shock 
was  so  great  that  men  and  officers  could  hardly  speak  when  the 
tale  slowly  circulated  from  lip  to  lip.  The  same  day  the  Sioux 
made  their  appearance,  and  tried  to  burn  us  out :  they  set  fire  to 
the  grass  near  the  infantry  battalions  ;  and  for  the  next  two  weeks 
paid  us  their  respects  every  night  in  some  manner,  trying  to 
stampede  stock,  burn  grass,  annoy  pickets,  and  devil  the  com 
mand  generally.  They  did  not  escape  scot-free  from  these 
encounters,  because  we  saw  in  the  rocks  the  knife  left  by  one 
wounded  man,  whose  blood  stained  the  soil  near  it;  another 
night  a  pony  was  shot  through  the  body  and  abandoned  ;  and  on 
still  another  occasion  one  of  their  warriors,  killed  by  a  bullet 
through  the  brain,  was  dragged  to  a  ledge  of  rocks  and  there  hid 
den,  to  be  found  a  week  or  two  after  by  our  Shoshone  scouts. 

The  Sioux  destroyed  an  immense  area  of  pasturage,  not  less 
than  one  hundred  miles  each  way,  leaving  a  charred  expanse  of 
territory  where  had  so  lately  been  the  refreshing  green  of  dainty 
grass,  traversed  by  crystal  brooks ;  over  all  that  blackened  sur 
face  it  would  have  been  difficult  to  find  so  much  as  a  grasshopper  ; 
it  could  be  likened  to  nothing  except  Burke's  description  of  the 
devastation  wrought  by  Hyder  Ali  in  the  plains  of  the  Carnatic. 
Copious  rains  came  to  our  relief,  and  the  enemy  desisted  ;  besides 
destroying  the  pasturage,  the  Sioux  had  subjected  us  to  the  great 
annoyance  of  breathing  the  tiny  particles  of  soot  which  filled  the 
air  and  darkened  the  sky. 

Hearing  from  some  of  our  hunters  that  the  tracks  of  a  party — 
a  large  party — of  Sioux  and  Cheyennes,  mounted,  had  been  seen 
on  the  path  taken  by  Crook  and  his  little  detachment  of  hunters, 
going  up  into  the  Big  Horn,  Colonel  Royall  ordered  Mills  to 
take  three  companies  and  proceed  out  to  the  relief,  if  necessary, 
of  our  General  and  comrades.  They  all  returned  safely  in  the 
course  of  the  afternoon,  and  the  next  day,  July  llth,  we  were 
joined  by  a  force  of  two  hundred  and  thirteen  Shoshones,  com 
manded  by  their  head-chief,  "Washakie,"  whose  resemblance  in 


ARMS  OF   THE  SHOSHONES.  335 

face  and  bearing  to  the  eminent  divine,  Henry  Ward  Beecher, 
was  noticeable.  This  party  had  been  delayed,  waiting  for  the 
Utes  and  Bannocks,  who  had  sent  word  that  they  wanted  to  take 
part  in  the  war  against  the  Sioux  ;  but  l(  Washakie"  at  last  grew 
tired,  and  started  off  with  his  own  people  and  two  of  the  Bannock 
messengers. 

Of  these  two  a  story  was  related  to  the  effect  that,  during  the 
previous  winter,  they  had  crossed  the  mountains  alone,  and 
slipped  into  a  village  of  Sioux,  and  begun  to  cut  the  fastenings 
of  several  fine  ponies  ;  the  alarm  was  given,  and  the  warriors 
began  to  tumble  out  of  their  beds  ;  our  Bannocks  were  crouch 
ing  down  in  the  shadow  of  one  of  the  lodges,  and  in  the  confu 
sion  of  tongues,  barking  of  dogs,  hurried  questioning  and  answer 
ing  of  the  Sioux,  boldly  entered  the  "tepi"  just  vacated  by  two 
warriors  and  covered  themselves  up  with  robes.  The  excitement 
quieted  down  after  a  while,  and  the  camp  was  once  more  in 
slumber,  the  presence  of  the  Bannocks  undiscovered,  and  the 
Sioux  warriors  belonging  to  that  particular  lodge  blissfully  igno 
rant  that  they  were  harboring  two  of  the  most  desperate  villains 
in  the  whole  western  country.  When  the  proper  moment  had 
come,  the  Bannocks  quietly  reached  out  with  their  keen  knives, 
cut  the  throats  of  the  squaws  and  babies  closest  to  them,  stalked 
out  of  the  lodge,  ran  rapidly  to  where  they  had  tied  the  two  best 
ponies,  mounted,  and  like  the  wind  were  away 

Besides  the  warriors  with  "  Washakie,"  there  were  two  squaws, 
wives  of  two  of  the  men  wounded  in  the  Rosebud  fight,  who  had 
remained  with  us.  As  this  was  the  last  campaign  in  which  great 
numbers  of  warriors  appeared  with  bows,  arrows,  lances,  and 
shields  as  well  as  rifles,  I  may  say  that  the  shields  of  the  Sho- 
shones,  like  those  of  the  Sioux  and  Crows  and  Cheyennes,  were 
made  of  the  skin  of  the  buffalo  bulFs  neck,  which  is  an  inch  in 
thickness.  This  is  cut  to  the  desired-  shape,  and  slightly  larger 
than  the  required  size  to  allow  for  shrinking ;  it  is  pegged  down 
tight  on  the  ground,  and  covered  with  a  thin  layer  of  clay  upon 
which  is  heaped  a  bed  of  burning  coals,  which  hardens  the  skin 
so  that  it  will  turn  the  point  of  a  lance  or  a  round  bullet.  A 
war-song  and  dance  from  the  Shoshones  ended  the  day. 

On  the  12th  of  July,  1876,  three  men,  dirty,  ragged,  dressed 
in  the  tatters  of  army  uniforms,  rode  into  camp  and  gave  their 
names  as  Evans,  Stewart,  and  Bell,  of  Captain  Clifford's  company 


336          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

of  the  Seventh  Infantry,  bearers  of  despatches  from  General 
Terry  to  General  Crook ;  in  the  dress  of  each  was  sewed  a  copy 
of  the  one  message  which  revealed  the  terrible  catastrophe  happen 
ing  to  the  companies  under  General  Ouster.  These  three  modest 
heroes  had  ridden  across  country  in  the  face  of  unknown  dan 
gers,  and  had  performed  the  duty  confided  to  them  in  a  manner 
that  challenged  the  admiration  of  every  man  in  our  camp.  I 
have  looked  in  vain  through  the  leaves  of  the  Army  Register  to 
see  their  names  inscribed  on  the  roll  of  commissioned  officers  ; 
and  I  feel  sure  that  ours  is  the  only  army  in  the  world  in  which 
such  conspicuous  courage,  skill,  and  efficiency  would  have  gone 
absolutely  unrecognized. 

Colonel  Chambers,  with  seven  companies  of  infantry  and  a 
wagon-train  loaded  with  supplies,  reached  camp  on  the  13th. 
With  him  came,  as  volunteers,  Lieutenants  Hayden  Delaney,  of 
the  Ninth,  and  Calhoun  and  Crifctenden,  of  the  Fourteenth  In 
fantry,  and  Dr.  V.  T.  McGillicuddy.  Personal  letters  received 
from  General  Sheridan  informed  General  Crook  that  General 
Merritt,  with  ten  companies  of  the  Fifth  Cavalry,  had  left  Red 
Cloud  Agency  with  orders  to  report  to  Crook,  and  that  as  soon 
after  they  arrived  as  possible,  but  not  until  then,  Crook  was  to 
start  out  and  resume  the  campaign.  Courier  Fairbanks  brought 
in  despatches  from  Adjutant-General  Robert  Williams  at  Omaha, 
Nebraska,  to  the  effect  that  we  should  soon  be  joined  by  a  de 
tachment  of  Utes,  who  were  desirous  of  taking  part  in  the 
movements  against  the  Sioux,  but  had  been  prevented  by  their 
agent.  General  Williams  had  made  a  representation  of  all  the 
facts  in  the  case  to  superior  authority,  and  orders  had  been 
received  from  the  Department  of  the  Interior  directing  their 
enlistment.  Nearly  fifty  of  the  Utes  did  start  out  under  Lieu 
tenant  Spencer,  of  th#  Fourth  Infantry,  and  made  a  very  rapid 
march  to  overtake  us,  but  failed  to  reach  our  wagon-train  camp 
until  after  our  command  had  departed  ;  and,  in  the  opinion  of 
Major  Furey,  the  risk  for  such  a  small  party  was  too  great  to  be 
undertaken. 

Camp  was  the  scene  of  the  greatest  activity  :  both  infantry 
and  cavalry  kept  up  their  exercises  in  the  school  of  the  soldier, 
company  and  battalion,  and  in  skirmishing.  Detachments  of 
scouts  were  kept  constantly  in  advanced  positions,  and  although 
the  enemy  had  made  no  attempt  to  do  anything  more  than  annoy 


EVOLUTIONS  OF  THE  SHOSHONES.  337 

us  in  our  strong  natural  intrenchments,  as  the  camps  close  to 
the  Big  Horn  might  fairly  be  designated,  yet  it  was  evident  that 
something  unusual  was  in  the  wind.  "  Washakie  "  ascended  to 
the  tops  of  the  highest  hills  every  morning  and  scanned  the 
horizon  through  powerful  field-glasses,  and  would  then  report 
the  results  of  his  observations.  Colonel  Mills  did  the  same  thing 
from  the  peaks  of  the  Big  Horn,  to  some  of  the  more  accessible 
of  which  he  ascended.  The  Shoshones  were  kept  in  the  highest 
state  of  efficiency,  and  were  exercised  every  morning  and  evening 
like  their  white  brothers.  At  first  they  had  made  the  circuit  of 
camp  unattended,  and  advanced  five  or  ten  miles  out  into  the 
plains  in  the  performance  of  their  evolutions ;  but  after  the  ar 
rival  of  fresh  troops,  under  Chambers,  "  Washakie  "  was  afraid 
that  some  of  the  new-comers  might  not  know  his  people  and 
would  be  likely  to  fire  upon  them  when  they  charged  back  to 
camp  ;  so  he  asked  General  Crook  to  detail  some  of  his  officers 
to  ride  at  the  head  of  the  column,  with  a  view  to  dispelling  any 
apprehensions  the  new  recruits  might  feel.  It  fell  to  my  lot  to 
be  one  of  the  officers  selected.  In  all  the  glory  of  war-bonnets, 
bright  blankets,  scarlet  cloth,  head-dresses  of  feathers,  and  gleam 
ing  rifles  and  lances,  the  Shoshones,  mounted  bareback  on 
spirited  ponies,  moved  slowly  around  camp,  led  by  "  Washakie," 
alongside  of  whom  was  borne  the  oriflamme  of  the  tribe — a 
standard  of  eagle  feathers  attached  to  a  lance-staff  twelve  feet 
in  length.  Each  warrior  wore  in  his  head-dress  a  small  piece  of 
white  drilling  as  a  distinguishing  mark  to  let  our  troops  know 
who  he  was. 

We  moved  out  in  column  of  twos  ;  first  at  a  fast  walk,  almost 
a  trot,  afterwards  increasing  the  gait.  The  young  warriors  sat 
like  so  many  statues,  horse  and  rider  moving  as  one.  Not  a 
word  was  spoken  until  the  voices  of  the  leaders  broke  out  in 
their  war-song,  to  which  the  whole  column  at  once  lent  the 
potent  aid  of  nearly  two  hundred  pairs  of  sturdy  lungs.  Down 
the  valley  about  three  miles,  and  then,  at  a  signal  from  "  Wash 
akie,"  the  column  turned,  and  at  another,  formed  front  into 
line  and  proceeded  slowly  for  about  fifty  yards.  "  Washakie  " 
was  endeavoring  to  explain  something  to  me,  but  the  noise  of  the 
ponies'  hoofs  striking  the  burnt  ground  and  my  ignorance  of 
his  language  were  impediments  to  a  full  understanding  of  what 
the  old  gentleman  was  driving  at.  I  learned  afterwards  that  he 
22 


338          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

was  assuring  me  that  I  was  now  to  see  some  drill  such  as  the 
Shoshones  alone  could  execute.  He  waved  his  hands  ;  the  line 
spread  out  as  skirmishers  and  took  about  two  yards'  interval 
from  knee  to  knee.  Then  somebody — "  Washakie  "  or  one  of 
his  lieutenants — yelled  a  command  in  a  shrill  treble  ;  that's  all  I 
remember.  The  ponies  broke  into  one  frantic  rush  for  camp, 
riding  over  sage-brush,  rocks,  stumps,  bunches  of  grass,  buffalo 
heads — it  mattered  not  the  least  what,  they  went  over  it — the  war 
riors  all  the  while  squealing,  yelling,  chanting  their  war-songs,  or 
howling  like  coyotes.  The  ponies  entered  into  the  whole  business, 
and  needed  not  the  heels  and  "  quirts"  which  were  plied  against 
their  willing  flanks.  In  the  centre  of  the  line  rode  old  ' '  Wash 
akie  ; "  abreast  of  him  the  eagle  standard.  It  was  an  exciting 
and  exhilarating  race,  and  the  force  preserved  an  excellent  align 
ment.  Only  one  thought  occupied  my  mind  during  this  charge, 
and  that  thought  was  what  fools  we  were  not  to  incorporate 
these  nomads — the  finest  light  cavalry  in  the  world — into  our 
permanent  military  force.  With  five  thousand  such  men,  and 
our  aboriginal  population  would  readily  furnish  that  number,  we 
could  harass  and  annoy  any  troops  that  might  have  the  audacity 
to  land  on  our  coasts,  and  worry  them  to  death. 

General  Crook  attempted  to  open  communication  with  Gen 
eral  Terry  by  sending  out  a  miner  named  Kelly,  who  was  to 
strike  for  the  head  of  the  Little  Big  Horn,  follow  that  down 
until  it  proved  navigable,  then  make  a  raft  or  support  for  him 
self  of  cottonwood  or  willow  saplings  and  float  by  night  to  the 
confluence  of  the  Big  Horn  and  the  Yellowstone,  and  down  the 
latter  to  wherever  Terry's  camp  might  be.  Kelly  made  two  at 
tempts  to  start,  but  was  each  time  driven  or  frightened  back ;  but 
the  third  time  got  off  in  safety  and  made  the  perilous  journey, 
and  very  much  in  the  lines  laid  down  in  his  talk  with  Crook. 

Violent  storms  of  snow,  hail,  and  cold  rain,  with  tempests  of 
wind,  prevailed  upon  the  summits  of  the  range,  which  was  fre 
quently  hidden  from  our  gaze  by  lowering  masses  of  inky  vapor. 
Curious  effects,  not  strictly  meteorological,  were  noticed  ;  our 
camp  was  visited  by  clouds  of  flies  from  the  pine  forests,  which 
deposited  their  eggs  upon  everything  ;  the  heat  of  the  sun  was 
tempered  by  a  gauze  veil  which  inspection  showed  to  be  a 
myriad  of  grasshoppers  seeking  fresh  fields  of  devastation.  Pos 
sibly  the  burning  over  of  hundreds  of  square  miles  of  pasturage 


DESPATCHES  FROM  TERRY.  339 

had  driven  them  to  hunt  new  and  unharmed  districts  ;  possibly 
they  were  driven  down  from  the  higher  elevations  by  the  rigorous 
cold  of  the  storms ;  possibly  both  causes  operated.  The  fact  was  all 
we  cared  for,  and  we  found  it  disagreeable  enough.  With  these 
insects  there  was  larger  game :  mountain  sheep  appeared  in  the 
lower  foot-hills,  and  two  of  them  were  killed  along  our  camp 
lines.  To  balk  any  attempt  of  the  enemy  to  deprive  us  alto 
gether  of  grass,  whenever  camp  was  moved  to  a  new  site,  a  detail 
of  men  was  put  to  work  to  surround  us  with  a  fire-ljne,  which 
would  prevent  the  fires  set  by  mischievous  Sioux  from  gaining 
headway.  In  making  one  of  these  moves  we  found  the  Tongue 
River  extremely  swollen  from  the  storms  in  the  higher  peaks, 
and  one  of  the  drivers,  a  good  man  but  rather  inexperienced, 
had  the  misfortune  to  lose  his  self-possession,  and  his  wagon  was 
overturned  by  the  deep  current  and  three  of  the  mules  drowned, 
the  man  himself  being  rescued  by  the  exertions  of  the  Shoshone 
scouts,  who  were  passing  at  the  moment. 

On  the  19th  of  July  four  Crow  Indians  rode  into  camp  bear 
ing  despatches,  the  duplicates  of  those  already  received  by  the 
hands  of  Evans,  Stewart,  and  Bell.  General  Terry,  realizing  the 
risk  the  latter  ran,  had  taken  the  precaution  to  repeat  his  cor 
respondence  with  Crook  in  order  that  the  latter  might  surely 
understand  the  exact  situation  of  affairs  in  the  north.  After 
being  refreshed  with  sleep  and  a  couple  of  good  warm  meals, 
the  Crows  were  interrogated  concerning  all  they  knew  of  the 
position  of  the  hostiles,  their  numbers,  ammunition,  and  other 
points  of  the  same  kind.  Squatting  upon  the  ground,  with 
fingers  and  hands  deftly  moving,  they  communicated  through 
the  "  sign  language "  a  detailed  account  of  the  advance  of 
Terry,  Gibbon,  and  Custer  ;  the  march  of  Custer,  the  attack  upon 
the  village  of  "Crazy  Horse "  and  "  Sitting  Bull,"  the  massacre, 
the  retreat  of  Reno,  the  investment,  the  arrival  of  fresh  troops 
on  the  field,  the  carrying  away  of  the  wounded  to  the  steam 
boats,  the  sorrow  in  the  command,  and  many  other  things  which 
would  astonish  persons  ignorant  of  the  scope  and  power  of  this 
silent  vehicle  for  the  interchange  of  thought. 

The  troops  having  been  paid  off  by  Major  Arthur,  who  had 
come  with  Colonel  Chambers  and  the  wagon -train,  the  Shoshones 
each  evening  had  pony  races  for  some  of  the  soldiers'  money. 
This  was  the  great  amusement  of  our  allies,  besides  gambling, 


340          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

fishing,  drilling,  and  hunting.  The  greater  the  crowd  assem 
bled,  the  greater  the  pleasure  they  took  in  showing  their  rare 
skill  in  riding  and  managing  their  fleet  little  ponies.  The  course 
laid  off  was  ordinarily  one  of  four  hundred  yards.  The  signal 
given,  with  whip  and  heel  each  rider  plied  his  maddened  steed  ;  it 
was  evident  that  the  ponies  were  quite  as  much  worked  up  in  the 
matter  as  their  riders.  With  one  simultaneous  bound  the  half- 
dozen  or  more  contestants  dart  like  arrow  from  bow  ;  a  cloud  of 
dust  rises  and  screens  them  from  vision ;  it  is  useless  to  try  to 
pierce  this  veil  ;  it  is  unnecessary,  because  within  a  very  few 
seconds  the  quaking  earth  throbs  responsive  to  many-footed 
blows,  and,  quick  as  lightning's  flash,  the  mass  of  steaming, 
panting,  and  frenzied  steeds  dash  past,  and  the  race  is  over. 
Over  so  far  as  the  horses  were  concerned,  but  only  begun  so  far 
as  the  various  points  of  excellence  of  the  riders  and  their  mounts 
could  be  argued  about  and  disputed. 

This  did  not  conclude  the  entertainment  of  each  day  :  the 
Shoshones  desired  to  add  still  more  to  the  debt  of  gratitude  we 
already  owed  them,  so  they  held  a  serenade  whenever  the  night 
was  calm  and  fair.  Once  when  the  clouds  had  rolled  by  and  the 
pale  light  of  the  moon  was  streaming  down  upon  tents  and  pack- 
trains,  wagons  and  sleeping  animals,  the  Shoshones  became 
especially  vociferous,  and  I  learned  from  the  interpreter  that 
they  were  singing  to  the  moon.  This  was  one  of  the  most  pro 
nounced  examples  of  moon  worship  coming  under  my  observa 
tion. 

The  Shoshones  were  expert  fishermen,  and  it  was  always  a 
matter  of  interest  to  me  to  spend  my  spare  moments  among  them, 
watching  their  way  of  doing  things.  Their  war  lodges  were 
entirely  unlike  those  of  the  Apaches,  with  which  I  had  be 
come  familiar.  The  Shoshones  would  take  half  a  dozen  wil 
low  branches  and  insert  them  in  the  earth,  so  as  to  make  a  semi- 
cylindrical  framework,  over  which  would  be  spread  a  sufficiency 
of  blankets  to  afford  the  requisite  shelter.  They  differed  also 
from  the  Apaches  in  being  very  fond  of  fish  ;  the  Apaches  could 
not  be  persuaded  to  touch  anything  with  scales  upon  it,  or  any 
bird  which  lived  upon  fish  ;  but  the  Shoshones  had  more  sense, 
and  made  the  most  of  their  opportunity  to  fill  themselves  with 
the  delicious  trout  of  the  mountain  streams.  They  did  not 
bother  much  about  hooks  and  lines,  flies,  casts,  and  appliances 


SHOSHONE  FISHING.  341 

and  tricks  of  that  kind,  but  set  to  work  methodically  to  get  the 
biggest  mess  the  streams  would  yield.  They  made  a  dam  of 
rocks  and  a  wattle-work  of  willow,  through  which  the  water 
could  pass  without  much  impediment,  but  which  would  retain 
all  solids.  Two  or  three  young  men  would  stay  by  this  dam  or 
framework  as  guards  to  repair  accidents.  The  others  of  the 
party,  mounting  their  ponies,  would  start  down-stream  to  a 
favorable  location  and  there  enter  and  begin  the  ascent  of  the 
current,  keeping  their  ponies  in  touch,  lashing  the  surface  of  the 
stream  in  their  front  with  long  poles,  and  all  the  while  joining 
in  a  wild  medicine  song.  The  frightened  trout,  haying  no  other 
mode  of  escape,  would  dart  up-stream  only  to  be  held  in  the 
dam,  from  which  the  Indians  would  calmly  proceed  to  take 
them  out  in  gunny  sacks.  It  was  not  very  sportsmanlike,  but  it 
was  business. 

I  find  the  statement  in  my  note-books  that  there  must  have 
been  at  least  fifteen  thousand  trout  captured  in  the  streams 
upon  which  we  had  been  encamped  during  that  period  of  three 
weeks,  and  I  am  convinced  that  my  figures  are  far  below  the 
truth  ;  the  whole  command  was  living  upon  trout  or  as  much 
as  it  wanted ;  when  it  is  remembered  that  we  had  hundreds  of 
white  and  red  soldiers,  teamsters,  and  packers,  and  that  when 
Crook  finally  left  this  region  the  camp  was  full  of  trout,  salt  or 
dried  in  the  sun  or  smoked,  and  that  every  man  had  all  he  could 
possibly  eat  for  days  and  days,  the  enormous  quantity  taken 
must  be  apparent.  Added  to  this  we  continued  to  have  a  con 
siderable  amount  of  venison,  elk,  and  bear  meat,  but  no  buffalo 
had  been  seen  for  some  days,  probably  on  account  of  the  destruc 
tion  of  grass.  Mountain  sheep  and  bear  took  its  place  to  a  cer 
tain  extent. 

It  was  the  opinion  and  advice  of  Sheridan  that  Crook  should 
wait  for  the  arrival  of  Merritt,  and  that  the  combined  force 
should  then  hunt  Terry  and  unite  with  him,  and  punish  the 
Sioux,  rather  than  attempt  to  do  anything  with  a  force  which 
might  prove  inadequate.  In  this  view  old  "  Washakie  "  fully  con 
curred.  The  old  chief  said  to  Crook  :  "  The  Sioux  and  Cheyennes 
have  three  to  your  one,  even  now  that  you  have  been  reinforced  ; 
why  not  let  them  alone  for  a  few  days  ?  they  cannot  subsist  the 
great  numbers  of  warriors  and  men  in  their  camp,  and  will  have 
to  scatter  for  pasturage  and  meat ;  they'll  begin  to  fight  among 


342          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

themselves  about  the  plunder  taken  on  the  battle-field,  and  many 
will  want  to  slip  into  the  agencies  and  rejoin  their  families." 

But,  while  waiting  for  Merritt  to  come  up  with  his  ten  com 
panies  of  cavalry,  Crook  sent  out  two  large  scouting  parties  to 
definitely  determine  the  location  and  strength  of  the  enemy. 
One  of  these  consisted  entirely  of  Shoshones,  under  "  Wash- 
akie  ; "  it  penetrated  to  the  head  of  the  Little  Big  Horn  and 
around  the  corner  of  the  mountain  to  the  canon  of  the  Big 
Horn  ;  the  site  of  a  great  camp  was  found  of  hundreds  of  lodges 
and  thousands  of  ponies,  but  the  indications  were  that  the  enemy 
were  getting  hard  pressed  for  food,  as  they  had  been  eating  their 
dogs  and  ponies  whose  bones  were  picked  up  around  the  camp- 
fires.  From  that  point  the  trails  showed  that  the  enemy  had 
gone  to  the  northeast  towards  the  Powder  River.  The  other 
scouting  party  was  led  by  Louis  Riehaud,  and  passed  over  the 
Big  Horn  Mountains  and  down  into  the  cafion  of  the  Big  Horn 
River ;  they  found  where  the  Sioux  of  the  big  village  had  sent 
parties  up  into  the  range  to  cut  and  trim  lodge-poles  in  great 
numbers.  Richaud  and  his  party  suffered  extremely  from  cold ; 
the  lakes  on  the  summit  of  the  mountains  were  frozen,  and  on 
the  1st  of  August  they  were  exposed  to  a  severe  snow-storm. 

Later  advices  from  Sheridan  told  that  the  control  of  the  Sioux 
agencies  had  been  transferred  to  the  War  Department ;  that  Mac 
kenzie  and  six  companies  of  his  regiment  had  been  ordered  to  take 
charge  at  Red  Cloud  and  Spotted  Tail,  assisted  by  Gordon  with 
two  companies  of  the  Fifth  Cavalry.  Although  showers  of  rain 
were  of  almost  daily  occurrence,  and  storms  of  greater  impor 
tance  very  frequent,  the  weather  was  so  far  advanced,  and  the 
grass  so  dry  and  so  far  in  seed,  that  there  was  always  danger  of  a 
conflagration  from  carelessness  with  fire. 

One  of  the  Shoshones  dropped  a  lighted  match  in  the  dry 
grass  near  his  lodge,  and  in  a  second  a  rattle  and  crackle  warned 
the  camp  of  its  danger.  All  hands,  Indian  and  white,  near  by 
rushed  up  with  blankets,  blouses,  switches,  and  branches  of  trees 
to  beat  back  the  flames.  This  was  a  dangerous  task;  as,  one 
after  another,  the  Shoshone  frame  shelters  were  enveloped  in  the 
fiery  embrace  of  the  surging  flames,  the  explosion  of  cartridges 
and  the  whistling  of  bullets  drove  our  men  back  to  places  of 
safety.  In  the  tall  and  dry  grass  the  flames  held  high  revel ; 
the  whole  infantry  command  was  turned  out,  and  bravely  set  to 


INDIAN  BEINFORCEMENTS.  343 

work,  and,  aided  by  a  change  in  the  wind,  secured  camp  from 
destruction.  While  thus  engaged,  they  discovered  a  body  of 
Indians  moving  down  the  declivity  of  the  mountain  ;  they  im 
mediately  sprang  to  arms  and  prepared  to  resist  attack  ;  a  couple 
of  white  men  advanced  from  the  Indian  column  and  called  o-ut 
to  the  soldiers  that  they  were  a  band  of  Utes  and  Shoshones 
from  Camp  Brown,  coming  to  join  General  Crook. 

Our  men  welcomed  and  led  them  into  camp,  where  friends 
gave  them  a  warm  reception,  which  included  the  invariable  war- 
dance  and  the  evening  serenade.  Some  of  the  new-comers  strolled 
over  to  chat  with  the  Shoshones  who  had  been  wounded  in  the 
Rosebud  fight,  and  who,  although  horribly  cut  up  with  bullet 
wounds  in  the  thigh  or  in  the  flanks,  as  the  case  was,  had 
recovered  completely  under  the  care  of  their  own  doctors,  who 
applied  nothing  but  cool  water  as  a  dressing  ;  but  I  noticed  that 
they  were  not  all  the  time  washing  out  the  wounds  as  Americans 
would  have  done,  which  treatment  as  they  think  would  only  irri 
tate  the  tender  surfaces.  The  new-comers  proved  to  be  a  band  of 
thirty-five,  and  were  all  good  men. 

On  the  2d  of  August  camp  was  greatly  excited  over  what  was 
termed  a  game  of  base-ball  between  the  officers  of  the  infantry 
and  cavalry  ;  quite  a  number  managed  to  hit  the  ball,  and  one  or 
two  catches  were  made ;  the  playing  was  in  much  the  same  style, 
and  of  about  the  same  comparative  excellence,  as  the  amateur 
theatrical  exhibitions,  where  those  who  come  to  scoff  remain  to 
pray  that  they  may  never  have  to  come  again. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

THE  JUNCTION  WITH  MERRITT  AND  THE  MARCH  TO  MEET  TERRY 
— THE  COUNTRY  ON  FIRE — MERRITT  AND  HIS  COMMAND — 
MR. 
JOH 

TERY — MEETING  TERRY'S  COMMAND — FINDING  TWO  SKEL 
ETONS — IN  THE  BAD  LANDS — LANCING  RATTLESNAKES — 
BATHING  IN  THE  YELLOWSTONE — MACKINAW  BOATS  AND 
"  BULL  "  BOATS — THE  REES  HAVE  A  PONY  DANCE — SOME 
TERRIBLE  STORMS — LIEUTENANT  WILLIAM  P.  CLARKE. 

ON  the  3d  of  August,  1876,  Crook's  command  marched 
twenty  miles  north-northeast  to  Goose  Creek,  where  Mer- 
ritt  had  been  ordered  to  await  its  arrival.  The  flames  of  prairie 
fires  had  parched  and  disfigured  the  country.  "  Big  Bat  "  took 
me  a  short  cut  across  a  petty  affluent  of  the  Goose,  which  had 
been  full  of  running  water  but  was  now  dry  as  a  bone,  choked 
with  ashes  and  dust,  the  cottonwoods  along  its  banks  on  fire,  and 
every  sign  that  its  current  had  been  dried  up  by  the  intense  heat 
of  the  flames.  In  an  hour  or  so  more  the  pent-up  waters  forced 
a  passage  through  the  ashes,  and  again  flowed  down  to  mingle 
with  the  Yellowstone.  The  Sioux  had  also  set  fire  to  the  timber 
in  the  Big  Horn,  and  at  night  the  sight  was  a  beautiful  one  of 
the  great  line  of  the  foot-hills  depicted  in  a  tracery  of  gold. 

General  Merritt  received  us  most  kindly.  He  was  at  that  time 
a  very  young  man,  but  had  had  great  experience  during  the  war 
in  command  of  mounted  troops.  He  was  blessed  with  a  power 
ful  physique,  and  seemed  to  be  specially  well  adapted  to  undergo 
any  measure  of  fatigue  and  privation  that  might  befall  him. 
His  force  consisted  of  ten  companies  of  the  Fifth  Cavalry,  and  he 
had  also  brought  along  with  him  seventy-six  recruits  for  the 
Second  and  Third  Regiments,  and  over  sixty  surplus  horses,  be 
sides  an  abundance  of  ammunition. 

The  officers  with  General  Merritt,  or  whose  names  have  not 


OFFICERS  WITH   GENERAL  MERRITT.  345 

already  been  mentioned  in  these  pages,  were  :  Lieutenant-Colonel 
E,  A.  Carr,  Major  John  V.  Upham,  Lieutenant  A.  D.  B.  Smead, 
A.  D.  King,  George  0.  Eaton,  Captain  Robert  H.  Montgomery, 
Emil  Adam,  Lieutenant  E.  L.  Keyes,  Captain  Samuel  Sumner, 
Lieutenant  C.  P.  Rodgers,  Captain  George  F.  Price,  Captain 
J  Scott  Payne,  Lieutenants  A.  B.  Bache,  William  P.  Hall,  Cap 
tain  E.  M.  Hayes,  Lieutenant  Hoel  S.  Bishop,  Captain  Sanford 
C.  Kellogg,  Lieutenants  Bernard  Reilly  and  Robert  London, 
Captain  Julius  W.  Mason,  Lieutenant  Charles  King,  Captain 
Edward  H.  Leib,  Captain  William  H.  Powell,  Captain  James 
Kennington,  Lieutenant  John  Murphy,  Lieutenant  Charles 
Lloyd,  Captain  Daniel  W.  Burke,  Lieutenant  F.  S.  Calhoun, 
Captain  Thomas  F.  Tobey,  Lieutenant  Frank  Taylor,  Lieu 
tenant  Richard  T.  Yeatman,  Lieutenants  Julius  H.  Pardee, 
Robert  H.  Young,  Rockefeller,  and  Satterlle  C.  Plummer,  with 
Lieutenants  W.  C.  Forbush  as  Adjutant,  and  Charles  H.  Rock 
well  as  Quartermaster  of  the  Fifth  Cavalry,  and  Assistant  Sur 
geons  Grimes,  Lecompt,  and  Surgeon  B.  H.  Clements,  who  was 
announced  as  Medical  Director  of  the  united  commands  by 
virtue  of  rank.  Colonel  T.  H.  Stanton  was  announced  as  in 
command  of  the  irregulars  and  citizen  volunteers,  who  in  small 
numbers  accompanied  the  expedition.  He  was  assisted  by  Lieu 
tenant  Robert  H.  Young,  Fourth  Infantry,  a  gallant  and  effi 
cient  soldier  of  great  experience.  At  the  head  of  the  scouts 
with  Merritt  rode  William  F.  Cody,  better  known  to  the  world 
at  large  by  his  dramatic  representation  which  has  since  traversed 
two  continents  :  "  Buffalo  Bill's  Wild  West  Show/' 

Major  Furey  was  directed  to  remain  at  this  point,  or  in  some 
eligible  locality  close  to  it,  and  keep  with  him  the  wagon-train 
and  the  disabled.  Paymaster  Arthur  was  to  stay  with  him ;  and 
outside  of  that  there  were  three  casualties  in  the  two  com 
mands  :  Sutorius,  dismissed  by  sentence  of  general  court-mar 
tial  ;  Wilson,  resigned  July  29th  •  and  Cain,  whose  mind  betrayed 
symptoms  of  unsoundness,  and  who  was  ordered  to  remain  with 
Furey,  but  persisted  in  keeping  with  the  column  until  the  Yellow 
stone  had  been  reached.  Couriers  arrived  with  telegrams  from 
General  Sheridan  at  Chicago,  Williams  at  Omaha,  and  Colonel 
Townsend,  commanding  at  Fort  Laramie  ;  all  of  whom  had 
likewise  sent  clippings  from  the  latest  papers,  furnishing  in 
formation  from  all  points  in  the  Indian  country.  From  these 


346  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

clippings  it  was  learned  that  the  stream  of  adventurers  pouring 
into  the  Black  Hills  was  unabated,  and  that  at  the  confluence  of 
the  Dead  wood  and  White  wood  Creeks  a  large  town  or  city  of  no 
less  than  four  thousand  inhabitants  had  sprung  up  and  was 
working  the  gold  "placers,"  all  the  time  exposed  to  desperate 
attacks  from  the  Indians,  who,  according  to  one  statement, 
which  was  afterwards  shown  to  be  perfectly  true,  had  murdered 
more  than  eighty  men  in  less  than  eight  days.  These  men  were 
not  killed  within  the  limits  of  the  town,  but  in  its  environs  and 
in  the  exposed  { '  claims  "  out  in  the  Hills. 

Several  new  correspondents  had  attached  themselves  to  Mer- 
ritt's  column ;  among  them  I  recall  Mills,  of  the  New  York 
Times,  and  Lathrop,  of  the  Bulletin,  of  San  Francisco.  These, 
I  believe,  were  the  only  real  correspondents  in  the  party,  al 
though  there  were  others  who  vaunted  their  pretensions  ;  one  of 
these  last,  name  now  forgotten,  claimed  to  have  been  sent  out 
by  the  New  York  Graphic,  a  statement  very  few  were  inclined 
to  admit.  He  was  the  greenest  thing  I  ever  saw  without  feath 
ers  ;  he  had  never  been  outside  of  New  York  before,  and  the 
way  the  scouts,  packers,  and  soldiers  'Maid  for"  that  man  was  a 
caution.  Let  the  other  newspaper  men  growl  as  they  might 
about  the  lack  of  news,  Mr.  "Graphic,"  as  I  must  call  him, 
never  had  any  right  to  complain  on  that  score.  Never  was 
packer  or  scout  or  soldier — shall  I  add  officer  ? — so  weary,  wet, 
hungry,  or  miserable  at  the  end  of  a  day's  march  that  he  couldn't 
devote  a  half-hour  to  the  congenial  task  of  "stuffin'  the  tender 
foot,"  The  stories  told  of  Indian  atrocities  to  captives,  espe 
cially  those  found  with  paper  and  lead-pencils,  were  enough  to 
make  the  stoutest  veteran's  teeth  chatter,  and  at  times  our 
newly-discovered  acquisition  manifested  a  disinclination  to  swal 
low,  unstrained,  the  stories  told  him  ;  but  his  murmurs  of  mild 
dissent  were  drowned  in  an  inundation  of  "Oh,  that  hain't 
nawthin'  to  what  I've  seed  'em  do."  Who  the  poor  fellow  was  I 
do  not  know  ;  no  one  seemed  to  know  him  by  any  other  designa 
tion  than  "The  Tenderfoot."  He  "had  no  money,  he  could  not 
draw,  and  was  dependent  upon  the  packers  and  others  for  every 
meal ;  I  must  say  that  he  never  lacked  food,  provided  he 
swallowed  it  with  tales  of  border  horrors  which  would  cause  the 
pages  of  the  Boys'  Own  Five-Cent  Novelette  series  to  creak  with 
terror.  I  never  saw  him  smile  but  once,  and  that  was  under 


"THE  TENDERFOOT'S"  HILARITY.  347 

provocation  sufficient  to  lead  a  corpse  to  laugh  itself  out  of  its 
shroud. 

One  of  the  biggest  liars  among  Stanton's  scouts — I  do  not 
recall  whether  it  was  "  Slap-jack  Billy,  the  Pride  of  the  Pan- 
Handle,,"  or  "  Pisen-weed  Patsey,  the  Terror  of  the  Bresh  " — was 
devoting  a  half- hour  of  his  valuable  time  to  "  gettin'  in  his  work  " 
on  the  victim,  and  was  riding  one  pony  and  leading  another, 
which  he  had  tied  to  the  tail  of  the  first  by  a  rope  or  halter. 
This  plan  worked  admirably,  and  would  have  been  a  success  to 
the  end  had  not  the  led  pony  started  at  some  Indian  clothing  in 
the  trail,  and  jumped,  and  pulled  the  tail  of  the  leader  nearly 
out  by  the  roots.  The  front  horse  wasn't  going  to  stand  any  such 
nonsense  as  that ;  he  squealed  and  kicked  and  plunged  in  rage, 
sending  his  rider  over  his  head  like  a  rocket,  and  then,  still 
attached  to  the  other,  something  after  the  style  of  a  Siamese 
twin,  charged  through  the  column  of  scouts,  scattering  them  in 
every  direction.  But  this  paroxysm  of  hilarity  was  soon  over, 
and  the  correspondent  subsided  into  his  normal  condition  of 
deep-settled  melancholy.  He  left  us  when  we  reached  the  Yel 
lowstone,  and  I  have  never  blamed  him. 

One  of  the  facts  brought  out  in  the  telegrams  received  by 
General  Crook  was  that  eight  warriors,  who  had  left  the  hostiles 
and  surrendered  at  Red  Cloud  Agency,  had  reported  that  the 
main  body  of  the  hostiles  would  turn  south.  Lieutenant  E.  B. 
Eobertson,  Ninth  Infantry,  found  a  soapstone  dish  on  the  line 
of  march,  which  could  have  come  from  the  Mandans  only,  either 
by  trade  or  theft ;  or,  possibly,  some  band  of  Mandans,  in  search 
of  buffalo,  had  penetrated  thus  far  into  the  interior  and  had 
lost  it. 

In  a  telegram  sent  in  to  Sheridan  about  this  date  Crook  said  : 
"  On  the  25th  or  26th,  all  the  hostile  Indians  left  the  foot  of  the 
Big  Horn  Mountains,  and  moved  back  in  the  direction  of  the 
Rosebud  Mountains,  so  that  it  is  now  impracticable  to  communi 
cate  with  General  Terry  by  courier.  I  am  fearful  that  they  will 
scatter,  as  there  is  not  sufficient  grass  in  that  country  to  support 
them  in  such  large  numbers.  If  we  meet  the  Indians  in  too 
strong  force,  I  will  swing  around  and  unite  with  General  Terry. 
Your  management  of  the  agencies  will  be  a  great  benefit  to  us 
here." 

We  had  one  busy  day  ;  saddles  had  to  be  exchanged  or  repaired, 


348  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

horses  shod,  ammunition  issued,  provisions  packed,  and  all  stores 
in  excess  turned  into  the  wagon -train.  The  allowance  of  bag 
gage  was  cut  down  to  the  minimum  :  every  officer  and  soldier 
was  to  have  the  clothes  on  his  back  and  no  more  ;  one  overcoat, 
one  blanket  (to  be  carried  by  the  cavalry  over  the  saddle  blanket), 
and  one  India-rubber  poncho  or  one-half  of  a  shelter  tent,  was 
the  allowance  carried  by  General  Crook,  the  members  of  his 
staff,  and  all  the  officers,  soldiers,  and  packers.  We  had  rations 
for  fifteen  days — half  of  bacon,  sugar,  coffee,  and  salt,  and  full  of 
hard  bread ;  none  of  vinegar,  soap,  pepper,  etc.  There  were  two 
hundred  and  fifty  rounds  of  ammunition  to  the  man  ;  one  hundred 
to  be  carried  on  the  person,  and  the  rest  on  the  pack-mules,  of 
which  there  were  just  three  hundred  and  ninety-nine.  The 
pack-train  was  in  five  divisions,  each  led  by  a  bell-mare  ;  no  tents 
allowed,  excepting  one  for  the  use  of  the  surgeons  attending 
to  critical  cases.  "Travois"  poles  were  hauled  along  to  drag 
wounded  in  case  it  should  become  necessary. 

Our  mess,  which  now  numbered  eleven,  was,  beyond  dispute, 
the  most  remarkable  mess  the  army  has  ever  known.  I  challenge 
comparison  with  it  from  anything  that  has  ever  been  seen  among 
our  officers  outside  of  Libby  or  Andersonville  prisons.  General 
Crook  did  not  allow  us  either  knife,  fork,  spoon,  or  plate.  Each 
member  carried  strapped  to  the  pommel  of  his  saddle  a  tin  cup, 
from  which  at  balmy  morn  or  dewy  eve,  as  the  poets  would  say, 
he  might  quaff  the  decoction  called  coffee.  Our  kitchen  utensils 
comprised  one  frying-pan,  one  carving-knife,  one  carving-fork, 
one  large  coffee  pot,  one  large  tin  platter,  one  large  and  two 
small  tin  ladles  or  spoons,  and  the  necessary  bags  for  carrying 
sugar,  coffee,  bacon,  and  hard  bread.  I  forgot  to  say  that  we 
had  also  one  sheet-iron  mess  pan.  General  Crook  had  deter 
mined  to  make  his  column  as  mobile  as  a  column  of  Indians,  and 
he  knew  that  example  was  more  potent  than  a  score  of  general 
orders. 

We  marched  down  "Prairie  Dog"  Creek,  to  its  junction  with 
Tongue  River,  passing  through  a  village  of  prairie  dogs,  which 
village  was  six  miles  long.  The  mental  alienation  of  our  unfortu 
nate  friend — Captain  Cain — became  more  and  more  apparent.  By 
preference,  I  rode  with  Colonel  Stanton's  scouts;  they  called 
themselves  the  "  Montana  Volunteers/'  but  why  they  did  so  I 
never  could  understand,  unless  it  was  that  every  other  State  and 


THE  "MONTANA  VOLUNTEERS/'          349 

Territory  had  repudiated  them  and  set  a  price  upon  their  heads. 
There  was  a  rumor  widely  circulated  in  camp  to  the  effect  that 
one  or  two  of  these  scouts  had  never  been  indicted  for  murder  ;  it 
was  generally  suspected  that  Stanton  himself  was  at  the  bottom  of 
this,  in  his  anxiety  to  secure  a  better  name  for  his  corps.  There 
were  very  few  of  them  who  couldn't  claim  the  shelter  of  the  jails 
of  Cheyenne,,  Denver,  and  Omaha  by  merely  presenting  them 
selves,  and  confessing  certain  circumstances  known  to  the  police 
and  detectives  of  those  thriving  boroughs.  Many  a  night  Joe 
Wasson,  Strahorn,  and  I  sat  upon  our  saddles,  to  be  sure  that  we 
should  have  them  with  us  at  sunrise.  One  of  the  most  impor 
tant  of  these  volunteers  was  "  Ute  John,"  a  member  of  the  tribe 
of  the  same  name,  who  claimed  to  have  been  thoroughly  civilized 
and  Christianized,  because  he  had  once,  for  six  months,  been 
"dlivin'  team  fo'  Mo'mon"  in  Salt  Lake.  "Ute  John"  was 
credited  by  most  people  with  having  murdered  his  own  grand 
mother  and  drunk  her  blood,  but,  in  my  opinion,  the  reports  to 
his  detriment  were  somewhat  exaggerated,  and  he  was  harmless 
except  when  sober,  which  wasn't  often,  provided  whiskey  was 
handy.  "John's  "  proudest  boast  was  that  he  was  a  "  Klischun," 
and  he  assured  me  that  he  had  been  three  times  baptized  in  one 
year  by  the  "Mo'mon,"  who  had  made  him  "heap  wash,"  and 
gave  him  "heap  biled  shirt,"  by  which  we  understood  that  he  had 
been  baptized  and  clad  in  the  garments  of  righteousness,  which 
he  sorely  needed.  "Ute  John  "  had  one  peculiarity:  he  would 
never  speak  to  any  one  but  Crook  himself  in  regard  to  the  issues 
of  the  campaign.  "  Hello,  Cluke,"  he  would  say,  "  how  you  gittin' 
on  ?  Where  you  tink  dem  Clazy  Hoss  en  Settin'  Bull  is  now, 
Cluke  ?  " 

We  had  a  difficult  time  marching  down  the  Tongue,  which 
had  to  be  forded  thirteen  times  in  one  day,  the  foot-soldiers  dis 
daining  the  aid  which  the  cavalry  was  ordered  to  extend  by  car 
rying  across  all  who  so  desired.  The  country  was  found  to  be  one 
gloomy  desolation.  We  crossed  the  Rosebud  Mountains  and 
descended  into  the  Rosebud  Creek,  where  trails  were  found  as 
broad  and  distinct  as  wagon -roads  ;  the  grass  was  picked  clean, 
and  the  valley,  of  which  I  wrote  so  enthusiastically  in  the 
spring,  was  now  a  desert.  We  discovered  the  trap  which  "  Crazy 
Horse  "  had  set  for  us  at  the  Rosebud  fight  on  the  17th  of  June, 
and  confidence  in  Crook  was  increased  tenfold  by  the  knowledge 


350          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

that  he  had  outwitted  the  enemy  on  that  occasion.  The  Sioux 
and  Cheyennes  had  encamped  in  seven  circles,  covering  four 
miles  in  length  of  the  valley.  The  trail  was  from  ten  to  twelve 
days  old,  and,  in  the  opinion  of  Frank  and  the  other  guides,  had 
heen  made  by  from  ten  to  twenty  thousand  ponies. 

The  hills  bordering  the  Eosebud  were  vertical  bluffs  pre 
senting  beautiful  alternations  of  color  in  their  stratification ; 
there  were  bands  of  red,  pink,  cream,  black,  and  purple  ;  the 
different  tints  blending  by  easy  gradations  into  a  general  effect 
pleasing  to  the  eye.  There  were  quantities  of  lignite  which 
would  be  of  incalculable  benefit  to  the  white  settlers  who  might 
in  the  future  flock  into  this  region.  In  riding  along  with  our 
Indian  scouts  we  learned  much  of  the  secret  societies  among  the 
aboriginal  tribes :  the  "  Brave  Night  Hearts,  "  the  "  Owl 
Feathers,"  and  the  "Wolves  and  Foxes."  These  control  the 
tribe,  fight  its  battles,  and  determine  its  policy.  Initiation  into 
some  one  of  them  is  essential  to  the  young  warrior's  advancement. 
The  canon  of  the  Kosebud  would  seem  to  have  been  the  bury- 
ing-ground  of  the  Western  Dakotas ;  there  were  dozens  of 
graves  affixed  to  the  branches  of  the  trees,  some  of  them  of  great 
age,  and  all  raided  by  our  ruthless  Shoshones  and  Utes,  who 
with  their  lances  tumbled  the  bones  to  the  ground  and  ransacked 
the  coverings  for  mementos  of  value,  sometimes  getting  fine 
bows,  at  others,  nickel-plated  revolvers.  There  was  one  which 
the  Shoshones  were  afraid  to  touch,  and  which  they  said  was  full 
of  bad  " medicine;"  but  "TJte  John,"  fortified,  no  doubt,  by 
the  grace  of  his  numerous  Mormon  baptisms,  was  not  restrained 
by  vain  fears,  and  tumbled  it  to  the  ground,  letting  loose  six 
teen  field  mice  which  in  some  way  had  made  their  home  in  those 
sepulchral  cerements. 

Captain  "  Jack  Crawford,  the  Poet  Scout,"  rode  into  camp  on 
the  8th  of  August  attended  by  a  few  companions.  The  weather 
became  rainy,  and  the  trail  muddy  and  heavy.  August  llth  our 
scouts  sent  in  the  information  that  a  line  of  Indians  was  coming 
up  the  valley,  and  our  men  advanced  as  skirmishers.  Soon  word 
was  received  that  behind  the  supposed  enemy  could  be  seen  the 
white  canvas  coders  of  a  long  column  of  wagons,  and  we  then 
knew  that  we  were  about  to  meet  Terry's  command.  Our  cavalry 
were  ordered  to  halt  and  unsaddle  to  await  the  approach  of  the 
infantry.  The  Indian  scouts  were  directed  to  proceed  to  the 


MEETING  WITH   GENEKAL   TERRY.  351 

front  and  determine  exactly  who  the  strangers  were.  They 
decked  themselves  in  all  the  barbaric  splendors  of  which  they 
were  capable  :  war-bonnets  streamed  to  the  ground  ;  lances  and 
rifles  gleamed  in  the  sun  ;  ponies  and  riders,  daubed  with  mud, 
pranced  out  to  meet  our  friends,  as  we  were  assured  they  must  be. 

When  our  Indians  raised  their  yells  and  chants,  the  scouts  at 
the  head  of  the  other  column  took  fright  and  ran  in  upon  the 
solid  masses  of  horsemen  following  the  main  trail.  These  im 
mediately  deployed  into  line  of  skirmishers,  behind  which  we 
saw,  or  thought  we  saw,  several  pieces  of  artillery.  "Buffalo- 
Bill/^  who  was  riding  at  the  head  of  our  column,  waved  his  hat, 
and,  putting  spurs  to  his  horse,  galloped  up  alongside  of  Major 
Reno,  of  the  Seventh  Cavalry,  who  was  leading  Terry's  advance. 
When  the  news  passed  down  from  man  to  man,  cheers  arose  from 
the  two  columns  ;  as  fast  as  the  cheers  of  Terry's  advance  guard 
reached  the  ears  of  our  men,  they  responded  with  heart  and  soul. 
General  Crook  sent  Lieutenant  Schuyler  to  extend  a  welcome  to 
General  Terry,  and  proffer  to  him  and  his  officers  such  hospitali 
ties  as  we  could  furnish. 

Schuyler  returned,  leading  to  the  tree  under  which  Crook  was 
seated  a  band  of  officers  at  whose  head  rode  Terry  himself.  The 
meeting  between  the  two  commanders  was  most  cordial,  as  was 
that  between  the  subalterns,  many  of  whom  had  served  together 
during  the  war  and  in  other  places.  We  made  every  exertion  to 
receive  our  guests  with  the  best  in  our  possession  :  messengers 
were  despatched  down  to  the  pack-trains  to  borrow  every  knife, 
fork,  spoon,  and  dish  available,  and  they  returned  with  about 
thirty  of  each  and  two  great  coffee-pots,  which  were  soon  hum 
ming  on  the  fire  filled  to  the  brim  with  an  exhilarating  decoc 
tion.  Phillips,  the  cook,  was  assisted  on  this  occasion  by  a  man 
whose  experience  had  been  garnered  among  the  Nez  Perces  and 
Flat-Heads,  certainly  not  among  Caucasians,  although  I  must 
admit  that  he  worked  hard  and  did  the  best  he  knew  how.  A 
long  strip  of  canvas  was  stretched  upon  the  ground  and  covered 
with  the  tin  cups  and  cutlery.  Terry  and  his  staff  seated  them 
selves  and  partook  of  what  we  had  to  offer,  which  was  not  very 
much,  but  was  given  with  full  heart. 

Terry  was  one  of  the  most  charming  and  affable  of  men  ;  his 
general  air  was  that  of  the  scholar  no  less  than  the  soldier. 
His  figure  was  tall  and  commanding  ;  his  face  gentle,  yet  de- 


352          ON"  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

cided  ;  his  kindly  blue  eyes  indicated  good-nature  ;  his  complex 
ion,  bronzed  by  wind  and  rain  and  sun  to  the  color  of  an  old 
sheepskin- covered  Bible,  gave  him  a  decidedly  martial  appear 
ance.  He  won  his  way  to  all  hearts  by  unaffectedness  and  affa 
bility.  In  his  manner  he  was  the  antithesis  of  Crook.  Crook 
was  also  simple  and  unaffected,  but  he  was  reticent  and  taciturn 
to  the  extreme  of  sadness,  brusque  to  the  verge  of  severity.  In 
Terry's  face  I  thought  I  could  sometimes  detect  traces  of  inde 
cision  ;  but  in  Crook's  countenance  there  was  not  the  slightest 
intimation  of  anything  but  stubbornness,  rugged  resolution,  and 
bull-dog  tenacity.  Of  the  two  men  Terry  alone  had  any  preten 
sions  to  scholarship,  and  his  attainments  were  so  great  that  the 
whole  army  felt  proud  of  him  ;  but  Nature  had  been  bountiful 
to  Crook,  and  as  he  stood  there  under  a  tree  talking  with  Terry, 
I  thought  that  within  that  cleanly  outlined  skull,  beneath  that 
brow,  and  behind  those  clear-glancing  blue-gray  eyes,  there  was 
concealed  more  military  sagacity,  more  quickness  of  comprehen 
sion  and  celerity  to  meet  unexpected  emergencies,  than  in  any  of 
our  then  living  Generals  excepting  Grant,  of  whose  good  quali 
ties  he  constantly  reminded  me,  or  Sheridan,  whose  early  friend 
and  companion  he  had  been  at  West  Point  and  in  Oregon. 

That  evening,  General  Crook  and  his  staff  dined  with  Gen 
eral  Terry,  meeting  with  the  latter  Captains  Smith  and  Gibbs, 
Lieutenants  Maguire,  Walker,  Thompson,  Nowlan,  and  Mich- 
aelis.  From  this  point  Terry  sent  his  wagon-train  down  to  the 
Yellowstone,  and  ordered  the  Fifth  Infantry  to  embark  on  one 
of  the  steamboats  and  patrol  the  river,  looking  out  for  trails 
of  hostiles  crossing  or  attempting  to  cross  to  the  north.  All  the 
sick  and  disabled  were  sent  down  with  this  column  ;  we  lost  Cain 
and  Bache  and  a  number  of  enlisted  men,  broken  down  by  the 
exposure  of  the  campaign.  The  heat  in  the  middle  of  the  day 
had  become  excessive,  and  General  Terry  informed  me  that  on 
the  8th  it  registered  in  his  own  tent  117°  Fahrenheit,  and  on  the 
7th,  110°.  Much  of  this  increase  of  temperature  was,  no  doubt, 
due  to  the  heat  from  the  pasturage  destroyed  by  the  hostiles, 
which  comprehended  an  area  extending  from  the  Yellowstone  to 
the  Big  Horn  Mountains,  from  the  Big  Horn  Eiver  on  the  west 
to  the  Little  Missouri  on  the  east. 

In  two  things  the  column  from  the  Yellowstone  was  sadly 
deficient :  in  cavalry  and  in  rapid  transportation.  The  Seventh 


GENERAL  CROOK'S  PACK-TRAIN.  353 

Cavalry  was  in  need  of  reorganization,  half  of  its  original  num 
bers  having  been  killed  or  wounded  in  the  affair  of  the  Big  Horn  ; 
the  pack-train,  made  up,  as  it  necessarily  was,  of  animals  taken 
out  of  the  traces  of  the  heavy  wagons,  was  the  saddest  burlesque 
in  that  direction  which  it  has  ever  been  my  lot  to  witness — for 
this  no  blame  was  ascribable  to  Terry,  who  was  doing  the  best 
he  could  with  the  means  allowed  him  from  Washington.  The 
Second  Cavalry  was  in  good  shape,  and  so  was  Gibbon's  column 
of  infantry,  which  seemed  ready  to  go  wherever  ordered  and  go 
at  once.  Crook's  pack-train  was  a  marvel  of  system ;  it  main 
tained  a  discipline  much  severer  than  had  been  attained  by  any 
company  in  either  column  ;  under  the  indefatigable  supervision 
of  Tom  Moore,  Dave  Mears,  and  others,  who  had  had  an  experi 
ence  of  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  our  mules  moved  with 
a  precision  to  which  the  worn-out  comparison  of  <l  clockwork  "is 
justly  adapted.  The  mules  had  been  continuously  in  training 
since  the  preceding  December,  making  long  marches,  carrying 
heavy  burdens  in  the  worst  sort  of  weather.  Consequently,  they 
were  hardened  to  the  hardness  and  toughness  of  wrought-iron  and 
whalebone.  They  followed  the  bell,  and  were  as  well  trained  as 
any  soldiers  in  the  command."  Behind  them  one  could  see  the 
other  pack-train,  a  string  of  mules,  of  all  sizes,  each  led  by  one 
soldier  and  beaten  and  driven  along  by  another — attendants  often 
rivalling  animals  in  dumbness — and  it  was  hard  to  repress  a  smile 
except  by  the  reflection  that  this  was  the  motive  power  of  a  col 
umn  supposed  to  be  in  pursuit  of  savages.  On  the  first  day's 
march,  after  meeting  Crook,  Terry's  pack-train  dropped,  lost,  or 
damaged  more  stores  than  Crook's  command  had  spoiled  from 
the  same  causes  from  the  time  when  the  campaign  commenced. 

When  the  united  columns  struck  the  Tongue,  the  trail  of  the 
hostile  bands  had  split  into  three  :  one  going  up  stream,  one 
down,  and  one  across  country  east  towards  the  Powder.  Crook 
ordered  his  scouts  to  examine  in  front  and  on  flanks,  and  in  the 
mean  time  the  commands  unsaddled  and  went  into  camp ;  the 
scouts  did  not  return  until  almost  dark,  when  they  brought  in 
formation  that  the  main  trail  had  kept  on  in  the  direction  of  the 
Powder.  Colonel  Eoyall's  command  found  the  skeletons  of  two 
mining  prospectors  in  the  bushes  near  the  Tongue  ;  appearances 
indicated  that  the  Sioux  had  captured  these  men  and  roasted 
them  alive.  On  this  march  we  saw  a  large  "medicine  rock,"  in 
23 


354:          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

whose  crevices  the  Sioux  had  deposited  various  propitiatory  offer 
ings,  and  upon  whose  face  had  been  graven  figures  and  symbols 
of  fanciful  and  grotesque  outline. 

In  following  the  main  trail  of  the  enemy  it  seemed  as  if  we 
were  on  a  newly  cut  country  road  ;  when  we  reached  a  projecting 
hill  of  marl  and  sandy  clay,  the  lodge  poles  had  cut  into  the  soft 
soil  to  such  an  extent  that  we  could  almost  believe  that  we  were 
on  the  line  of  work  just  completed,  with  pick,  spade,  and  shovel, 
by  a  gang  of  trained  laborers.  Trout  were  becoming  scarce  in 
this  part  of  the  Tongue,  but  a  very  delicious  variety  of  the 
"cat"  was  caught  and  added  to  the  mess  to  the  great  delight  of 
the  epicure  members.  The  rain  had  increased  in  volume,  and 
rarely  an  hour  now  passed  without  its  shower.  One  night,  while 
sitting  by  what  was  supposed  to  be  our  camp-fire,  watching  the 
sputtering  flames  struggling  to  maintain  life  against  the  down- 
pouring  waters,  I  heard  my  name  called,  and  as  soon  as  I  could 
drag  my  sodden,  sticky  clothes  through  a  puddle  of  mud  I  found 
myself  face  to  face  with  Sam  Hamilton,  of  the  Second,  whom  I 
had  not  seen  since  we  were  boys  together  in  the  volunteer  service 
in  the  Stone  River  campaign,  in  1862.  It  was  a  very  melancholy 
meeting,  each  soaked  through  to  the  skin,  seated  alongside  of 
smoking  embers,  and  chilled  to  the  marrow,  talking  of  old  times, 
of  comrades  dead,  and  wondering  who  next  was  to  be  called. 

The  Indian  trail  led  down  the  Tongue  for  some  miles  before  it 
turned  east  up  the  "  Four  Horn  "  Creek,  where  we  followed  it, 
being  rewarded  with  an  abundance  of  very  fine  grama,  called  by 
our  scouts  the  "  Two-Day  "  grass,  because  a  bellyful  of  it 
would  enable  a  tired  horse  to  travel  for  two  days  more.  An. 
Indian  puppy  was  found  abandoned  by  its  red-skinned  owners, 
and  was  adopted  by  one  of  the  infantry  soldiers,  who  carried  it  on 
his  shoulders.  Part  of  this  time  we  were  in  <e  Bad  Lands,"  in 
fested  with  rattlesnakes  in  great  numbers,  which  our  Shoshones 
lanced  with  great  glee.  It  was  very  interesting  to  watch  them, 
and  see  how  they  avoided  being  bitten  :  three  or  four  would  ride 
up  within  easy  distance  of  the  doomed  reptile  and  distract  its 
attention  by  threatening  passes  with  their  lances  ;  the  crotalus 
would  throw  itself  into  a  coil  in  half  a  second,  and  stay  there, 
tongue  darting  in  and  out,  head  revolving  from  side  to  side, 
leaden  eyes  scintillating  with  the  glare  of  the  diamond,  ready  to 
strike  venomous  fangs  into  any  one  coming  within  reach.  The 


THE  POWDER  RIVER.  355 

Shoshone  boys  would  drive  their  lances  into  the  coil  from  three 
or  four  different  directions,  exclaiming  at  the  same  time  :  "Gott 
tammee  you  !  Gott  tammee  you  ! "  which  was  all  the  English 
they  had  been  able  to  master. 

We  struck  the  Powder  and  followed  it  down  to  its  junction 
with  the  Yellowstone,  where  we  were  to  replenish  our  supplies 
from  Terry's  steamboats.  The  Powder  contrasted  unfavorably 
with  the  Tongue  :  the  latter  was  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  wide,  four  feet  deep,  swift  current,  and  cold  water,  and,  ex 
cept  in  the  Bad  Lands  near  its  mouth,  clear  and  sweet,  and  not 
perceptibly  alkaline.  The  Powder  was  the  opposite  in  every 
feature  :  its  water,  turbid  and  milky  ;  current,  slow  ;  bottom, 
muddy  and  frequently  miry,  whereas  that  of  the  Tongue  was 
nearly  always  hard-pan.  The  water  of  the  Powder  was  alkaline 
and  not  always  palatable,  and  the  fords  rarely  good  and  often 
dangerous.  The  Yellowstone  was  a  delightful  stream:  its  width 
was  not  over  two  hundred  and  fifty  yards,  but  its  depth  was  con 
siderable,  its  bed  constant,  and  channel  undeviating.  The  cur 
rent  flows  with  so  little  noise  that  an  unsuspecting  person  would 
have  no  idea  of  its  velocity  ;  but  steamboats  could  rarely  stem  it, 
and  bathers  venturing  far  from  the  banks  were  swept  off  their 
feet.  The  depth  was  never  less  than  five  feet  in  the  main  chan 
nel  during  time  of  high  water.  The  banks  were  thickly  grassed 
and  covered  with  cotton  wood  and  other  timber  in  heavy  copses. 

Crook's  forces  encamped  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Powder  ; 
the  supplies  we  had  looked  for  were  not  on  hand  in  suffi 
cient  quantity,  and  Lieutenant  Bubb,  our  commissary,  reported 
that  he  was  afraid  that  we  were  going  to  be  grievously  dis 
appointed  in  that  regard.  General  Terry  sent  steamers  up  and 
down  the  Yellowstone  to  gather  up  all  stores  from  depots,  and 
also  from  points  where  they  had  been  unloaded  on  account  of 
shallow  water.  Crook's  men  spent  a  great  deal  of  the  time 
bathing  in  the  Yellowstone  and  washing  their  clothes,  following 
the  example  set  by  the  General  himself  :  each  man  waded  out 
into  the  channel  clad  in  his  undergarments  and  allowed  the  cur 
rent  to  soak  them  thoroughly,  and  he  would  then  stand  in  the 
sunlight  until  dried.  Each  had  but  the  suit  on  his  back,  and 
this  was  all  the  cleaning  or  change  they  had  for  sixty  days.  The 
ITtes  and  Shoshones  became  very  discontented,  and  "  Washa- 
kie  "  had  several  interviews  with  Crook,  in  which  he  plainly  told 


356  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

the  latter  that  his  people  would  not  remain  longer  with  Terry's 
column,  because  of  the  inefficiency  of  its  transportation  ;  with 
such  mules  nothing  could  be  done  ;  the  infantry  was  all  right, 
and  so  was  part  of  the  cavalry,  but  the  pack-train  was  no  good, 
and  was  simply  impeding  progress.  The  steamer  "  Far  West," 
Captain  Grant  Marsh,  was  sent  up  the  river  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Rosebud  to  bring  down  all  the  supplies  to  be  found  in  the  depot 
at  that  point,  but  returned  with  very  little  for  so  many  mouths 
as  we  now  had — about  four  thousand  all  told. 

A  great  many  fine  agates  were  found  in  the  Yellowstone  near 
the  Powder,  and  so  common  were  they  that  nearly  all  provided 
themselves  with  souvenirs  from  that  source.  Colonel  Burt 
was  sent  up  the  river  to  try  to  induce  the  Crows  to  send 
some  of  their  warriors  to  take  the  places  soon  to  be  vacated  by 
the  Shoshones,  as  Crook  foresaw  that  without  native  scouts  the 
expedition  might  as  well  be  abandoned.  Burt  was  unsuccessful 
in  his  mission,  and  all  our  scouts  left  with  the  exception  of  the 
much-disparaged  "  Ute  John,"  who  expressed  his  determination 
to  stick  it  out  to  the  last. 

Mackinaw  boats,  manned  by  adventurous  traders  from  Mon 
tana,  had  descended  the  river  loaded  with  all  kinds  of  knick- 
knacks  for  the  use  of  the  soldiers  ;  these  were  retailed  at  enor 
mous  prices,  but  eagerly  bought  by  men  who  had  no  other 
means  of  getting  rid  of  their  money.  Besides  the  "Mackinaw," 
which  was  made  of  rough  timber  framework,  the  waters  of  the 
Yellowstone  and  the  Missouri  were  crossed  by  the  "bull-boat," 
which  bore  a  close  resemblance  to  the  basket  "coracle"  of  the 
west  coast  of  Ireland,  and,  like  it,  was  a  framework  of  willow  or 
some  kind  of  basketry  covered  with  the  skins  of  the  buffalo,  or 
other  bovine  ;  in  these  frail  hemispherical  barks  squaws  would 
paddle  themselves  and  baggage  and  pappooses  across  the  swift- 
running  current  and  gain  the  opposite  bank  in  safety. 

At  the  mouth  of  Powder  there  was  a  sutler's  store  packed 
from  morning  till  night  with  a  crowd  of  expectant  purchasers. 
To  go  in  there  was  all  one's  life  was  worth  :  one  moment  a 
soldier  stepped  on  one  of  your  feet,  and  the  next  some  two-hun 
dred-pound  packer  favored  the  other  side  in  the  same  manner. 
A  disagreeable  sand-storm  drove  Colonel  Stanton  and  myself  to 
the  shelter  of  the  lunette  constructed  by  Lieutenant  William  P. 
Clarke,  Second  Cavalry,  who  had  descended  the  Yellowstone 


A  PONY  DANCE.  357 

from  Fort  Ellis  with  a  piece  of  artillery.  Here  we  lunched  with 
Clarke  and  Colonel  Carr,  of  the  Fifth  Cavalry,  stormbound  like 
ourselves.  The  Ree  scouts  attached  to  Terry's  column  favored 
our  Utes  and  Shoshones  with  a  "  pony  "  dance  after  nightfall. 
The  performers  were  almost  naked,  and,  with  their  ponies,  be 
daubed  and  painted  from  head  to  foot.  They  advanced  in  a 
regular  line,  which  was  not  broken  for  any  purpose,  going  over 
every  obstruction,  even  trampling  down  the  rude  structures  of 
cottonwood  branches  erected  by  the  Utes  and  Shoshones  for 
protection  from  the  elements.  As  soon  as  they  had  come  within 
a  few  yards  of  the  camp-fires  of  the  Shoshones,  the  latter,  with 
the  Utes,  joined  the  Rees  in  their  chant  and  also  jumped  upon 
their  ponies,  which  staggered  for  some  minutes  around  camp 
under  their  double  and  even  treble  load,  until,  thank  Heaven  ! 
the  affair  ended.  Although  I  had  what  might  be  called  a  "  dead 
head  "  view  of  the  dance,  I  did  not  enjoy  it  at  all,  and  was 
not  sorry  when  the  Rees  said  that  they  would  have  to  go  back  to 
their  own  camp. 

There  was  not  very  much  to  eat  down  on  the  Yellowstone,  and 
one  could  count  on  his  fingers  the  "  square  "  meals  in  that  lovely 
valley.  Conspicuous  among  them  should  be  the  feast  of  hot 
bacon  and  beans,  to  which  Tom  Moore  invited  Hartsuff,  Stanton, 
Bubb,  Wasson,  Strahorn,  Schuyler,  and  myself  long  after  the 
camp  was  wrapped  in  slumber.  The  beans  were  cooked  to  a 
turn  ;  there  was  plenty  of  hard- tack  and  coffee,  with  a  small 
quantity  of  sugar ;  each  knew  the  other,  there  was  much  to  talk 
about,  and  in  the  light  and  genial  warmth  of  the  fire,  with 
stomachs  filled,  we  passed  a  delightful  time  until  morning  had 
almost  dawned. 

On  the  20th  of  August,  our  Utes  and  Shoshones  left,  and  word 
was  also  received  from  the  Crows  that  they  were  afraid  to  let 
any  of  the  young  men  leave  their  own  country  while  such  num 
bers  of  the  Sioux  and  Cheyennes  were  in  hostility,  and  so  close 
to  them.  General  Crook  had  a  flag  prepared  for  his  head 
quarters  after  the  style  prevailing  in  Terry's  column,  which 
served  the  excellent  purpose  of  directing  orderlies  and  officers 
promptly  to  the  battalion  or  other  command  to  which  a  message 
was  to  be  delivered.  This  standard,  for  the  construction  of  which 
we  were  indebted  to  the  industry  of  Randall  and  Schuyler,  was 
rather  primitive  in  design  and  general  make-up.  It  was  a 


358          OX  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

guidon,  of  two  horizontal  bands,  white  above,  red  beneath,  with  a 
blue  star  in  the  centre.  The  white  was  from  a  crash  towel  con 
tributed  by  Colonel  Stanton,  the  red  came  from  a  flannel  under 
shirt  belonging  to  Schuyler,  and  an  old  blouse  which  Randall 
was  about  to  throw  away  furnished  the  star.  Tom  Moore  had  a 
"travois"  pole  shaved  down  for  a  staff,  the  ferrule  and  tip  of 
which  were  made  of  metallic  cartridges. 

Supper  had  just  been  finished  that  day  when  we  were  exposed 
to  as  miserable  a  storm  as  ever  drowned  the  spirit  and  enthusiasm 
out  of  any  set  of  mortals.  It  didn't  come  on  suddenly,  but  with 
slowness  and  deliberation  almost  premeditated.  For  more  than 
an  hour  fleecy  clouds  skirmished  in  the  sky,  wheeling  and  cir 
cling  lazily  until  re-enforced  from  the  west,  and  then  moving 
boldly  forward  and  hanging  over  camp  in  dense,  black,  sullen 
masses.  All  bestirred  themselves  to  make  such  preparations  as 
they  could  to  withstand  the  siege  :  willow  twigs  and  grasses  were 
cut  in  quantities,  and  to  these  were  added  sage-brush  and  grease- 
wood.  Wood  was  stacked  up  for  the  fire,  so  that  at  the  earliest 
moment  possible  after  the  cessation  of  the  storm  it  could  be 
rekindled  and  afford  some  chance  of  warming  ourselves  and  dry 
ing  clothing.  With  the  twigs  and  sage-brush  we  built  up  beds 
in  the  best-drained  nooks  and  corners,  placed  our  saddles  and 
bridles  at  our  heads,  and  carbines  and  cartridges  at  our  sides  to 
keep  them  dry.  As  a  last  protection,  a  couple  of  lariats  were 
tied  together,  one  end  of  the  rope  fastened  to  a  picket  pin  in  the 
ground,  the  other  to  the  limb  of  the  withered  cottonwood  along 
side  of  which  headquarters  had  been  established;  over  this 
were  stretched  a  couple  of  blankets  from  the  pack-train,  and  we 
had  done  our  best.  There  was  nothing  else  to  do  but  grin 
and  bear  all  that  was  to  happen.  The  storm-king  had  waited 
patiently  for  the  completion  of  these  meagre  preparations,  and 
now,  with  a  loud,  ear-piercing  crash  of  thunder,  and  a  hissing 
flash  of  white  lightning,  gave  the  signal  to  the  elements  to  begin 
the  attack.  We  cowered  helplessly  under  the  shock,  sensible 
that  human  strength  was  insignificant  in  comparison  with  the 
power  of  the  blast  which  roared  and  yelled  and  shrieked  about  us. 

For  hours  the  rain  poured  down — either  as  heavy  drops  which 
stung  by  their  momentum  ;  as  little  pellets  which  drizzled  through 
canvas  and  blankets,  chilling  our  blood  as  they  soaked  into  cloth 
ing  ;  or  alternating  with  hail  which  in  great,  globular  crystals, 


THE   BEGINNING  OF  STORMS.  359 

crackled  against  the  miserable  shelter,  whitened  the  ground,  and 
froze  the  air.  The  reverberation  of  the  thunder  was  incessant ; 
one  shock  had  barely  begun  to  echo  around  the  sky,  when  peal 
after  peal,  each  stronger,  louder,  and  more  terrifying  than  its 
predecessors,  blotted  from  our  minds  the  sounds  and  flashes 
which  had  awakened  our  first  astonishment,  and  made  us  forget 
in  new  frights  our  old  alarms.  The  lightning  darted  from  zenith 
to  horizon,  appeared  in  all  quarters,  played  around  all  objects. 
In  its  glare  the  smallest  bushes,  stones,  and  shrubs  stood  out  as 
plainly  as  under  the  noon  sun  of  a  bright  summer's  day  ;  when  it 
subsided,  our  spirits  were  oppressed  with  the  weight  of  darkness. 
No  stringing  together  of  words  can  complete  a  description  of 
what  we  saw,  suffered,  and  feared  during  that  awful  tempest. 
The  stoutest  hearts,  the  oldest  soldiers,  quailed. 

The  last  growl  of  thunder  was  heard,  the  last  flash  of  lightning 
seen,  between  two  and  three  in  the  morning,  and  then  we  turned 
out  from  our  wretched,  water-soaked  couches,  and  gathering 
around  the  lakelet  in  whose  midst  our  fire  had  been,  tried  by  the 
smoke  of  sodden  chips  and  twigs  to  warm  our  benumbed  limbs 
and  dry  our  saturated  clothing.  Not  until  the  dawn  of  day  did 
we  feel  the  circulation  quicken  and  our  spirits  revive.  A  com 
parison  of  opinion  developed  a  coincidence  of  sentiment.  Every 
body  agreed  that  while  perhaps  this  was  not  the  worst  storm  he 
had  ever  known,  the  circumstances  of  our  complete  exposure  to 
its  force  had  made  it  about  the  very  worst  any  of  the  command 
had  ever  experienced.  There  was  scarcely  a  day  from  that  on 
for  nearly  a  month  that  my  note-books  do  not  contain  references 
to  storms,  some  of  them  fully  as  severe  as  the  one  described  in  the 
above  lines;  the  exposure  began  to  tell  upon  officers,  men,  and 
animals,  and  I  think  the  statement  will  be  accepted  without 
challenge  that  no  one  who  followed  Crook  during  those  terrible 
days  was  benefited  in  any  way. 

I  made  out  a  rough  list  of  the  officers  present  on  this  expedi 
tion,  and  another  of  those  who  have  died,  been  killed,  died  of 
wounds,  or  been  retired  for  one  reason  or  another,  and  I  find 
that  the  first  list  had  one  hundred  and  sixteen  names  and  the 
second  sixty-nine  ;  so  it  can  be  seen  that  of  the  officers  who  were 
considered  to  be  physically  able  to  enter  upon  that  campaign  in 
the  early  summer  months  of  1876,  over  fifty  per  cent,  are  not 
now  answering  to  roll-call  on  the  active  list,  after  about  sixteen 


360          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

years'  interval.  The  bad  weather  had  the  good  effects  of  bring 
ing  to  the  surface  all  the  dormant  geniality  of  Colonel  Evans's 
disposition  :  he  was  the  Mark  Tapley  of  the  column  ;  the  harder 
it  rained,  the  louder  he  laughed ;  the  bright  shafts  of  lightning 
revealed  nothing  more  inspiriting  than  our  worthy  friend's  smile 
of  serene  contentment.  In  Colonel  Evans's  opinion,  which  he 
was  not  at  all  diffident  about  expressing,  the  time  had  come  for 
the  young  men  of  the  command  to  see  what  real  service  was 
like.  "  There  had  been  entirely  too  much  of  this  playing 
soldier,  sir ;  what  had  been  done  by  soldiers  who  were  soldiers, 
sir,  before  the  war,  sir,  had  never  been  properly  appreciated,  sir, 
and  never  would  be  until  these  young  men  got  a  small  taste  of  it 
themselves,  sir." 

General  Merritt's  division  of  the  command  was  provided  with 
a  signal  apparatus,  and  the  flags  were  of  great  use  in  conveying 
messages  to  camp  from  the  outlying  pickets,  and  thus  saving  the 
wear  and  tear  of  horse-flesh  ;  but  in  this  dark  and  rainy  season 
the  system  was  a  failure,  and  many  thought  that  it  would  have 
been  well  to  introduce  a  code  of  signals  by  whistles,  but  it  was 
not  possible  to  do  so  under  our  circumstances. 

The  ' '  Far  West "  had  made  several  trips  to  the  depot  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Eosebud,  and  had  brought  down  a  supply  of  shoes, 
which  was  almost  sufficient  for  our  infantry  battalions,  but  there 
was  little  of  anything  else,  and  Bubb,  our  commissary,  was  unable 
to  obtain  more  than  eleven  pounds  of  tobacco  for  the  entire  force. 

We  were  now  laboring  under  the  serious  disadvantage  of 
having  no  native  scouts,  and  were  obliged  to  start  out  without 
further  delay,  if  anything  was  to  be  done  with  the  trail  of  the 
Sioux,  which  had  been  left  several  marches  up  the  Powder,  be 
fore  we  started  down  to  the  Yellowstone  to  get  supplies.  Crook 
had  sent  out  Frank  Gruard,  "  Big  Bat,"  and  a  small  party  to 
learn  all  that  could  be  learned  of  that  trail,  which  was  found 
striking  east  and  south.  Terry's  scouts  had  gone  to  the  north 
of  the  Yellowstone  to  hunt  for  the  signs  of  bands  passing  across 
the  Missouri.  The  report  came  in  that  they  had  found  some  in 
that  direction,  and  the  two  columns  separated,  Terry  going  in  one 
direction,  and  Crook  keeping  his  course  and  following  the  large 
trail,  which  he  shrewdly  surmised  would  lead  over  towards  the 
Black  Hills,  where  the  savages  would  find  easy  victims  in  the 
-settlers  pouring  into  the  newly  discovered  mining  claims. 


THE  ADVANCE.  361 

Captain  Cain,  Captain  Burrowes,  and  Lieutenant  Eaton,  the 
latter  broken  down  with  chills  and  fever  as  well  a  pistol  wound 
in  the  hand,  were  ordered  on  board  the  transports,  taking  with 
them  twenty-one  men  of  the  command  pronounced  unfit  for  field 
service.  One  of  these  enlisted  men — Eshleman,  Ninth  Infantry 
— was  violently  insane.  Our  mess  gained  a  new  member,  Lieu 
tenant  William  P.  Clarke,  Second  Cavalry,  ordered  to  report  to 
General  Crook  for  duty  as  aide-de-camp.  He  was  a  brave, 
bright,  companionable  gentleman,  always  ready  in  an  emergency, 
and  had  he  lived  would,  beyond  a  doubt,  have  attained,  with 
opportunity,  a  distinguished  place  among  the  soldiers  of  our 
country.  General  Terry  very  kindly  lent  General  Crook  five  of 
his  own  small  band  of  Kee  scouts  ;  they  proved  of  great  service 
while  with  our  column. 


CHAPTEK    XXI. 

CROOK  AND  TERRY  SEPARATE — THE  PICTURESQUE  LITTLE  MIS 
SOURI — THE  "HORSE  MEAT  MARCH"  FROM  THE  HEAD  OF 
THE  HEART  RIVER  TO  DEADWOOD — ON  THE  SIOUX  TRAIL 
— MAKING  COFFEE  UNDER  DIFFICULTIES — SLAUGHTERING 
WORN-OUT  CAVALRY  HORSES  FOR  FOOD— THE  FIGHT  AT 
SLIM  BUTTES — LIEUTENANT  VON  LEUTTEWITZ  LOSES  A  LEG 
— THE  DYING  CHIEF,  "AMERICAN  HORSE,"  SURRENDERS — 
RELICS  OF  THE  CUSTER  MASSACRE — "CRAZY  HORSE"  AT 
TACKS  OUR  LINES — SUNSHINE  AND  RATIONS. 

ON  the  23d  of  August  we  were  beset  by  another  violent  storm, 
worse,  if  such  a  thing  were  possible,  than  any  yet  expe 
rienced.  All  through  the  night  we  lay  in  from  three  to  four 
inches  of  water,  unable  to  shelter  ourselves  against  the  strong 
wind  and  pelting  Niagara  which  inundated  the  country.  Sleep 
was  out  of  the  question,  and  when  morning  came  it  threw  its 
cold  gray  light  upon  a  brigade  of  drowned  rats,  of  disgusted  and 
grumbling  soldiers.  It  was  with  difficulty  we  got  the  fires  to 
burn,  but  a  cup  of  strong  coffee  was  ready  in  time,  and  with  the 
drinking  of  that  the  spirits  revived,  and  with  a  hearty  good-will 
all  hands  pulled  out  from  the  valley  of  the  Yellowstone,  and 
plodded  slowly  through  the  plastic  mud  which  lay  ankle  deep 
along  the  course  of  the  Powder.  There  was  a  new  acquisition  to 
the  column — a  fine  Newfoundland  dog,  which  attached  itself 
to  the  command,  or  was  reported  to  have  done  so,  although  I 
have  always  had  doubts  upon  that  subject.  Soldiers  will  steal 
dogs,  and  "  Jack,"  as  he  was  known  to  our  men,  may  have  been 
an  unwilling  captive,  for  all  I  know  to  the  contrary. 

There  was  no  trouble  in  finding  the  big  Sioux  trail,  or  in  fol 
lowing  it  east  to  O'Fallon's  Creek,  finding  plenty  of  water  and 
getting  out  of  "  the  burnt  district."  The  grass  was  as  nutritive 
as  it  ought  to  have  been  in  Wyoming  and  Montana,  and  as  it 
would  have  been  had  not  the  red  men  destroyed  it  all.  Another 


STORMS  AND  SICKNESS.  363 

trying  storm  soaked  through,  clothing,  and  dampened  the  cour 
age  of  our  bravest.  The  rain  which  set  in  about  four  in  the 
afternoon,  just  as  we  were  making  camp,  suddenly  changed  to 
hail  of  large  size,  which,  with  the  sudden  fall  in  temperature, 
chilled  and  frightened  our  herds  of  horses  and  mules,  and  had 
the  good  effect  of  making  them  cower  together  in  fear,  instead  of 
stampeding,  as  we  had  about  concluded  they  would  surely  do. 
Lightning  played  about  us  with  remorseless  vividness,  and  one 
great  bolt  crashed  within  camp  limits,  setting  fire  to  the  grass 
on  a  post  near  the  sentinel. 

The  29th  and  30th  of  August  we  remained  in  bivouac  at  a 
spring  on  the  summit  of  the  ridge  overlooking  the  head  waters  of 
Cabin  Creek,  while  our  blankets  and  clothing  were  drying ;  and 
the  scouts  reconnoitred  to  the  front  and  flanks  to  learn  what  was 
possible  regarding  the  trail,  which  seemed  much  fresher,  as  if 
made  only  a  few  days  previously.  Hunting  detachments  were 
sent  out  on  each  flank  to  bring  in  deer,  antelope  and  jack  rabbits 
for  the  sick,  of  whom  we  now  had  a  number  suffering  from  neu 
ralgia,  rheumatism,  malaria,  and  diarrhoea.  Lieutenant  Hunt- 
ington  was  scarcely  able  to  sit  his  horse,  and  Lieutenant  Bache 
had  to  be  hauled  in  a  "travois." 

The  night  of  August  31,  1876,  was  so  bitter  cold  that  a  num 
ber  of  General  Crook's  staff,  commissioned  and  enlisted,  had  a 
narrow  escape  from  freezing  to  death.  In  our  saturated  condi 
tion,  with  clothing  scant  even  for  summer,  we  were  in  no  condi 
tion  to  face  a  sudden  "  norther/7  which  blew  vigorously  upon  all 
who  were  encamped  upon  the  crests  of  the  buttes  but  neglected 
those  in  the  shelter  of  the  ravines.  The  scenery  in  this  neigh 
borhood  was  entrancing.  Mr.  Finerty  accompanied  me  to  the 
summit  of  the  bluffs,  and  we  looked  out  upon  a  panorama  grander 
than  any  that  artist  would  be  bold  enough  to  trace  upon  canvas. 
In  the  western  sky  the  waning  glories  of  the  setting  sun  were 
most  dazzling.  Scarlet  and  gold,  pink  and  yellow — in  lovely 
contrast  or  graceful  harmony — were  scattered  with  reckless  prod 
igality  from  the  tops  of  the  distant  hills  to  near  the  zenith,  where 
neutral  tints  of  gray  and  pale  blue  marked  the  dividing  line  be 
tween  the  gorgeousness  of  the  vanishing  sunlight  and  the  more 
placid  splendors  of  the  advancing  night,  with  its  millions  of  stars. 
The  broken  contour  of  the  ground,  with  its  deeply  furrowed 
ravines,  or  its  rank  upon  rank  of  plateaux  and  ridges,  resembled 


364          ON  THE  BOEDER  WITH  CROOK. 

an  angry  sea  whose  waves  had  been  suddenly  stilled  at  the  climax 
of  a  storm.  The  juiciest  grama  covered  the  pink  hillocks  from 
base  to  crest,  but  scarcely  a  leaf  could  be  seen  ;  it  was  pasturage, 
pure  and  simple — the  paradise  of  the  grazier  and  the  cowboy. 
We  gave  free  rein  to  our  fancy  in  anticipating  the  changes  ten 
years  would  effect  in  this  noble  region,  then  the  hunting  ground 
of  the  savage  and  the  lair  of  the  wild  beast. 

We  crossed  the  country  to  the  east,  going  down  Beaver  Creek 
and  finding  indications  that  the  hostiles  knew  that  we  were  on 
their  trail,  which  now  showed  signs  of  splitting ;  we  picked  up 
four  ponies,  abandoned  by  the  enemy,  and  Frank  Gruard,  who 
brought  them  in,  was  sure  that  we  were  pressing  closely  upon 
the  rear  of  the  Indians,  and  might  soon  expect  a  brush  with 
them.  A  soldier  was  bitten  in  the  thumb  by  a  rattlesnake  ; 
Surgeon  Patzki  cauterized  the  wound,  administered  ammonia,  and 
finished  up  with  two  stiff  drinks  of  whiskey  from  the  slender 
allowance  of  hospital  supplies.  The  man  was  saved.  The  trail 
kept  trending  to  the  south,  running  down  towards  the  "Senti 
nel"  Buttes,  where  our  advance  had  a  running  fight  with  the 
enemy's  rear-guard,  killing  one  or  two  ponies. 

The  next  point  of  note  was  the  Little  Missouri  River,  into  the 
valley  of  which  we  descended  on  the  4th  of  September,  at  the 
place  where  General  Stanley  had  entered  it  with  the  expedition 
to  survey  the  line  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  in  1873.  This 
is  called  by  the  Indians  the  "Thick  Timber"  Creek,  a  name 
which  it  abundantly  deserves  in  comparison  with  the  other 
streams  flowing  within  one  hundred  miles  on  either  side  of  it. 
We  emerged  from  the  narrow  defile  of  Andrus"  Creek,  into  a 
broad  park,  walled  in  by  precipitous  banks  of  marl,  clay,  and 
sandstone,  ranging  from  one  hundred  to  three  hundred  feet  high. 
Down  the  central  line  of  this  park  grew  a  thick  grove  of  cotton- 
wood,  willow,  and  box-elder,  marking  the  channel  of  the  stream, 
which  at  this  spot  was  some  thirty  yards  wide,  two  to  three  feet 
deep,  carrying  a  good  volume  of  cold,  sweet  water,  rather  muddy 
in  appearance.  The  bottom  is  of  clay,  and  in  places  miry,  and 
the  approaches  are  not  any  too  good.  A  small  amount  of  work 
was  requisite  to  cut  them  down  to  proper  shape,  but  there  was 
such  a  quantity  of  timber  and  brush  at  hand  that  corduroy  and 
causeway  were  soon  under  construction.  The  fertility  of  the 
soil  was  attested  by  the  luxuriance  of  the  grass,  the  thickness  of 


FORCED  MARCHES  AND  SCANTY  FARE.  365 

timber,  the  dense  growth  of  grape-Tines,  wild  plums,  and  bull 
berries,  already  ripening  under  the  warm  rays  of  the  sun  and 
the  constant  showers.  Where  the  picket  lines  of  Terry's  cavalry 
had  been  stretched  during  the  spring,  and  the  horses  had 
scattered  grains  of  corn  from  their  feed,  a  volunteer  crop  had 
sprung  up,  whose  stalks  were  from  ten  to  twelve  feet  high,  each 
bearing  from  two  to  four  large  ears  still  in  the  milk. 

Our  scouts  and  the  advance-guard  of  the  cavalry  rushed  into 
this  unexpected  treasure-trove,  cutting  and  slashing  the  stalks, 
and  bearing  them  off  in  large  armfuls  for  the  feeding  of  our  own 
animals.  The  half -ripened  plums  and  bull  berries  were  thoroughly 
boiled,  and,  although  without  sugar,  proved  pleasant  to  the  taste 
and  a  valuable  anti-scorbutic.  Trial  was  also  made  of  the  com 
mon  opuntia,  or  Indian  fig,  the  cactus  which  is  most  frequent  in 
that  section  of  Dakota  ;  the  spines  were  burnt  off,  the  thick  skin 
peeled,  and  the  inner  meaty  pulp  fried ;  it  is  claimed  as  an  excel 
lent  remedy  for  scurvy,  but  the  taste  is  far  from  agreeable,  being 
slimy  and  mucilaginous. 

On  the  5th  of  September  we  made  a  long  march  of  thirty 
miles  in  drizzling  rain  and  sticky  mud,  pushing  up  Davis  Creek, 
and  benefiting  by  the  bridges  which  Terry's  men  had  erected  in 
many  places  where  the  stream  had  to  be  crossed  ;  we  reached  the 
head  of  the  Heart  River,  and  passed  between  the  Eosebud  Butte 
on  the  right  and  the  CameFs  Hump  on  the  left.  Here  we  again 
ran  upon  the  enemy's  rear-guard,  which  seemed  disposed  to  make 
a  fight  until  our  advance  got  up  and  pushed  them  into  the  bluffs, 
when  they  retreated  in  safety,  under  cover  of  the  heavy  fog 
which  had  spread  over  the  hills  all  day.  Of  the  fifteen  days' 
rations  with  which  we  had  started  out  from  the  Yellowstone, 
only  two  and  a  half  days'  rations  were  left.  When  Randall  and 
Stanton  returned  from  the  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  the  Rees,  who 
were  still  with  us,  gave  it  as  their  opinion  that  the  command 
could  easily  reach  Fort  Abraham  Lincoln  in  four  days,  or  five  ; 
Glen  dive,  on  the  Yellowstone,  in  our  rear,  could  not  be  much 
farther  in  a  direct  line ;  but  here  was  a  hot  trail  leading  due 
south  towards  the  Black  Hills,  which  were  filling  with  an 
unknown  number  of  people,  all  of  whom  would  be  exposed  to 
slaughter  and  destruction.  There  is  one  thing  certain  about  a 
hot  trail :  you'll  find  Indians  on  it  if  you  go  far  enough,  and 
you'll  find  them  nowhere  else.  Comfort  and  ease  beckoned  from 


366  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Fort  Lincoln,  but  duty  pointed  to  Deadwood,  and  straight  to 
Deadwood  Crook  went.  His  two  and  a  half  days'  rations  were 
made  to  last  five  ;  the  Kees  were  sent  in  with  despatches  as  fast 
as  their  ponies  could  travel  to  Lincoln,  to  inform  Sheridan  of 
our  whereabouts,  and  to  ask  that  supplies  be  hurried  out  from 
Camp  Kobinson  to  meet  us.  With  anything  like  decent  luck 
we  ought  to  be  able  to  force  a  fight  and  capture  a  village  with  its 
supplies  of  meat.  Still,  it  was  plain  that  all  the  heroism  of  our 
natures  was  to  be  tried  in  the  fire  before  that  march  should  be 
ended ;  Bubb  concealed  seventy  pounds  of  beans  to  be  used  for 
the  sick  and  wounded  in  emergencies  ;  Surgeon  Hartsuff  carried 
in  his  saddle-bags  two  cans  of  jelly  and  half  a  pound  of  corn- 
starch,  with,  the  same  object ;  the  other  medical  officers  had  each 
a  little  something  of  the  same  sort — tea,  chocolate,  etc.  This  was 
a  decidedly  gloomy  outlook  for  a  column  of  two  thousand  men  in 
an  unknown  region  in  tempestuous  weather.  We  had  had  no 
change  of  clothing  for  more  than  a  month  since  leaving  Goose 
Creek,  and  we  were  soaked  through  with  rain  and  mud,  and 
suffering  greatly  in  health  and  spirits  in  consequence. 

We  left  the  Heart  River  in  the  cold,  bleak  mists  of  a  cheer 
less  morning,  which  magnified  into  grim  spectres  the  half-dozen 
cottonwoods  nearest  camp,  which  were  to  be  imprinted  upon 
memory  with  all  the  more  vividness,  because  until  we  had  struck 
the  Belle  Fourche,  the  type  of  the  streams  encountered  in  our 
march  was  the  same — timberless,  muddy,  and  sluggish.  The 
ground  was  covered  with  grass,  alternating  with  great  patches  of 
cactus.  Villages  of  prairie  dogs  extended  for  leagues,  and  the 
angry  squeak  of  the  population  was  heard  on  all  sides.  "Jack/' 
the  noble  Newfoundland  dog  which  had  been  with  us  since  we 
started  out  from  the  mouth  of  Powder,  was  now  crazy  for  some 
fresh  meat,  and  would  charge  after  the  prairie  dogs  with  such 
impetuosity  that  when  he  attempted  to  seize  his  victim,  and  the 
loosely  packed  soil  around  the  burrow  had  given  way  beneath  their 
united  weight,  he  would  go  head  over  heels,  describing  a  com 
plete  somersault,  much  to  his  own  astonishment  and  our  amuse 
ment.  After  turning  the  horses  out  to  graze  in  the  evening,  it 
generally  happened  that  camp  would  be  visited  by  half  a  dozen 
jack  rabbits,  driven  out  of  their  burrows  by  fear  of  the  horses' 
hoofs.  The  soldiers  derived  great  enjoyment  every  time  one  was 
started,  and  as  poor  pussy  darted  from  bush  to  bush,  doubled  and 


JACK  RABBIT  CHASING.  367 

twisted,  bounded  boldly  through  a  line  of  her  tormentors,  or 
cowered  trembling  under  some  sage-brush,  the  pursuers,  armed 
with  nose-bags,  lariats,  and  halters,  would  advance  from  all  sides, 
and  keep  up  the  chase  until  the  wretched  victim  was  fairly  run  to 
death.  There  would  be  enough  shouting,  yelling,  and  screeching 
to  account  for  the  slaughter  of  a  thousand  buffaloes.  We  learned 
to  judge  of  the  results  of  the  chase  in  the  inverse  ratio  to  the 
noise :  when  an  especially  deafening  outcry  was  heard,  the  ver 
dict  would  be  rendered  at  once  that  an  unusually  pigmy  rabbit 
had  been  run  to  cover,  and  that  the  men  who  had  the  least  to  do 
with  the  capture  had  most  to  do  with  the  tumult. 

The  country  close  to  the  head  of  Heart  Eiver  was  strewn  with 
banded  agate,  much  of  it  very  beautiful.  We  made  our  first 
camp  thirty-five  miles  south  of  Heart  Eiver  by  the  side  of  two 
large  pools  of  brackish  water,  so  full  of  "alkali"  that  neither 
men  nor  horses  cared  to  touch  it.  There  wasn't  a  stick  of  tim 
ber  in  sight  as  big  around  as  one's  little  finger  ;  we  tried  to  make 
coffee  by  digging  a  hole  in  the  ground  upon  which  we  set  a  tin  cup, 
and  then  each  one  in  the  mess  by  turns  fed  the  flames  with  wisps 
of  such  dry  grass  as  could  be  found  and  twisted  into  a  petty  fagot. 
We  succeeded  in  making  the  coffee,  but  the  water  in  boiling 
threw  up  so  much  saline  and  sedimentary  matter  that  the  ap 
pearance  was  decidedly  repulsive.  To  the  North  Pork  of  the 
Grand  River  was  another  thirty-five  miles,  made,  like  the  march 
of  the  preceding  day,  in  the  pelting  rain  which  had  lasted  all 
night.  The  country  was  beautifully  grassed,  and  we  saw  several 
patches  of  wild  onions,  which  we  dug  up  and  saved  to  boil  with 
the  horse-meat  which  was  now  appearing  as  our  food  ;  General 
Crook  found  half  a  dozen  rose-bushes,  which  he  had  guarded  by 
a  sentinel  for  the  use  of  the  sick  ;  Lieutenant  Bubb  had  four  or 
five  cracker-boxes  broken  up  and  distributed  to  the  command  for 
fuel ;  it  is  astonishing  what  results  can  be  effected  with  a  hand 
ful  of  fire-wood  if  people  will  only  half  try.  The  half  and  third 
ration  of  hard-tack  was  issued  to  each  and  every  officer  in  the 
headquarters  mess  just  the  same  as  it  was  issued  to  enlisted  men  ; 
the  coffee  was  prepared  with  a  quarter  ration,  and  even  that  had 
failed.  Although  there  could  not  be  a  lovelier  pasturage  than 
that  through  which  we  were  marching,  yet  our  animals,  too,  began 
to  play  out,  because  they  were  carrying  exhausted  and  half-starved 
men  who  could  not  sit  up  in  the  saddle,  and  couldn't  so  fre- 


368          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

quently  dismount  on  coming  to  steep,  slippery  descents  where  it 
would  have  been  good  policy  to  "favor"  their  faithful  steeds. 

Lieutenant  Bubb  was  now  ordered  forward  to  the  first  settle 
ment  he  could  find  in  the  Black  Hills — Deadwood  or  any  other 
this  side — and  there  to  buy  all  the  supplies  in  sight ;  he  took  fifty 
picked  mules  and  packers  under  Tom  Moore ;  the  escort  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  picked  men  from  the  Third  Cavalry,  mounted 
on  our  strongest  animals,  was  under  command  of  Colonel  Mills, 
who  had  with  him  Lieutenants  Chase,  Crawford,  Schwatka,  Von 
Leuttewitz,  and  Doctor  Stevens.  Two  of  the  correspondents, 
Messrs.  Strahorn  and  Davenport,  went  along,  leaving  the  main 
column  before  it  had  reached  the  camp  of  the  night.  We 
marched  comparatively  little  the  next  day,  not  more  than  twenty- 
four  miles,  going  into  camp  in  a  sheltered  ravine  on  the  South 
Fork  of  the  Grand  River,  within  sight  of  the  Slim  Buttes,  and  in 
a  position  which  supplied  all  the  fuel  needed,  the  first  seen  for 
more  than  ninety  miles,  but  so  soaked  with  water  that  all  we 
could  do  with  it  was  to  raise  a  smoke.  Ifc  rained  without  inter 
mission  all  day  and  all  night,  but  we  had  found  wood,  and  our 
spirits  rose  with  the  discovery ;  then,  our  scouts  had  killed  five 
antelope,  whose  flesh  was  distributed  among  the  command,  the 
sick  in  hospital  being  served  first.  Plums  and  bull  berries 
almost  ripe  were  appearing  in  plenty,  and  gathered  in  quantity  to 
be  boiled  and  eaten  with  horse-meat.  Men  were  getting  pretty 
well  exhausted,  and  each  mile  of  the  march  saw  squads  of  strag 
glers,  something  which  we  had  not  seen  before  ;  the  rain  was  so 
unintermittent,  the  mud  so  sticky,  the  air  so  damp,  that  with 
the  absence  of  food  and  warmth,  men  lost  courage,  and  not  a 
few  of  the  officers  did  the  same  thing.  Horses  had  to  be 
abandoned  in  great  numbers,  but  the  best  of  them  were  killed  to 
supply  meat,  which  with  the  bull  berries  and  water  had  become 
almost  our  only  certain  food,  eked  out  by  an  occasional  slice  of 
antelope  or  jack  rabbit. 

The  8th  of  September  was  General  Crook's  birthday ;  fifteen 
or  sixteen  of  the  officers  had  come  to  congratulate  him  at  his  fire 
under  the  cover  of  a  projecting  rock,  which  kept  off  a  considera 
ble  part  of  the  down-pour  of  rain  ;  it  was  rather  a  forlorn  birth 
day  party, — nothing  to  eat,  nothing  to  drink,  no  chance  to  dry 
clothes,  and  nothing  for  which  to  be  thankful  except  that  we  had 
found  wood,  which  was  a  great  blessing.  Sage-brush,  once  so 


GENERAL   CROOK'S  MESS.  369 

despised,  was  now  welcomed  whenever  it  made  its  appearance, 
as  it  began  to  do  from  this  on  ;  it  at  least  supplied  the  means  of 
making  a  small  fire,  and  provided  the  one  thing  which  under  all 
circumstances  the  soldier  should  have,  if  possible.  Exhausted 
by  fatiguing  marches  through  mud  and  rain,  without  sufficient 
or  proper  food,  our  soldiers  reached  bivouac  each  night,  to  find 
only  a  rivulet  of  doubtful  water  to  quench  their  thirst,  and  then 
went  supperless  to  bed. 

In  all  the  hardships,  in  all  the  privations  of  the  humblest 
soldier,  General  Crook  freely  shared ;  with  precisely  the  same 
allowance  of  food  and  bedding,  he  made  the  weary  campaign  of 
the  summer  of  1876  ;  criticism  was  silenced  in  the  presence  of  a 
general  who  would  reduce  himself  to  the  level  of  the  most  lowly, 
and  even  though  there  might  be  dissatisfaction  and  grumbling,  as 
there  always  will  be  in  so  large  a  command,  which  is  certain  to 
have  a  percentage  of  the  men  who  want  to  wear  uniform  without 
being  soldiers,  the  reflective  and  observing  saw  that  their  sufferings 
were  fully  shared  by  their  leader  and  honored  him  accordingly. 
There  was  no  mess  in  the  whole  column  which  suffered  as  much 
as  did  that  of  which  General  Crook  was  a  member ;  for  four  days 
before  any  other  mess  had  been  so  reduced  we  had  been  eating 
the  meat  of  played-out  cavalry  horses,  and  at  the  date  of  which  I 
am  now  writing  all  the  food  within  reach  was  horse-meat,  water, 
and  enough  bacon  to  grease  the  pan  in  which  the  former  was  to 
be  fried.  Crackers,  sugar,  and  coffee  had  been  exhausted,  and 
we  had  no  addition  to  our  bill  of  fare  beyond  an  occasional  plate 
ful  of  wild  onions  gathered  alongside  of  the  trail.  An  antelope 
had  been  killed  by  one  of  the  orderlies  attached  to  the  head 
quarters,  and  the  remains  of  this  were  hoarded  with  care  for 
emergencies. 

On  the  morning  of  September  9th,  as  we  were  passing  a  little 
watercourse  which  we  were  unable  to  determine  correctly,  some 
insisting  that  it  was  the  South  Fork  of  the  Grand,  others  calling 
it  the  North  Fork  of  Owl  Creek — the  maps  were  not  accurate, 
and  it  was  hard  to  say  anything  about  that  region — couriers  from 
Mills's  advance-guard  came  galloping'to  General  Crook  with  the 
request  that  he  hurry  on  to  the  aid  of  Mills,  who  had  surprised 
and  attacked  an  Indian  village  of  uncertain  size,  estimated  at 
twenty-five  lodges,  and  had  driven  the  enemy  into  the  bluffs  near 
him,  but  was  able  to  hold  his  own  until  Crook  could  reach  him. 
24 


370          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

The  couriers  added  that  Lieutenant  Von  Leuttewitz  had  been 
severely  wounded  in  the  knee,  one  soldier  had  been  killed,  and 
five  wounded  ;  the  loss  of  the  enemy  could  not  then  be  ascer 
tained.  Crook  gave  orders  for  the  cavalry  to  push  on  with  all 
possible  haste,  the  infantry  to  follow  more  at  leisure  ;  but  these 
directions  did  not  suit  the  dismounted  battalions  at  all,  and  they 
forgot  all  about  hunger,  cold,  wet,  and  fatigue,  and  tramped 
through  the  mud  to  such  good  purpose  that  the  first  infantry 
company  was  overlapping  the  last  one  of  the  mounted  troops 
when  the  cavalry  entered  the  ravine  in  which  Mills  was  awaiting 
them.  Then  we  learned  that  the  previous  evening  Frank  Gru- 
ard  had  discovered  a  band  of  ponies  grazing  on  a  hill-side  and 
reported  to  Mills,  who,  thinking  that  the  village  was  inconsidera 
ble,  thought  himself  strong  enough  to  attack  and  carry  it  unaided. 

He  waited  until  the  first  flush  of  daylight,  and  then  left  his 
pack-train  in  the  shelter  of  a  convenient  ravine,  under  command 
of  Bubb,  while-  he  moved  forward  with  the  greater  part  of  his 
command  on  foot  in  two  columns,  under  Crawford  and  Von 
Leuttewitz  respectively,  intending  with  them  to  surround  the 
lodges,  while  Schwatka,  with  a  party  of  twenty-five  mounted  men, 
was  to  charge  through,  firing  into  the  "tepis."  The  enemy's 
herd  stampeded  through  the  village,  awakening  the  inmates, 
and  discovering  the  presence  of  our  forces.  Schwatka  made  his 
charge  in  good  style,  and  the  other  detachments  moved  in  as 
directed,  but  the  escape  of  nearly  all  the  bucks  and  squaws  could 
not  be  prevented,  some  taking  shelter  in  high  bluffs  surround 
ing  the  village,  and  others  running  into  a  ravine  where  they  still 
were  at  the  moment  of  our  arrival — eleven  A.M. 

The  village  numbered  more  than  Mills  had  imagined  :  we 
counted  thirty-seven  lodges,  not  including  four  upon  which  the 
covers  had  not  yet  been  stretched.  Several  of  the  lodges  were  of 
unusual  dimensions :  one,  probably  that  occupied  by  the  guard 
called  by  Gruard  and  "Big  Bat  "the  "Brave  Night  Hearts," 
contained  thirty  saddles  and  equipments.  Great  quantities  of 
furs — almost  exclusively  untanned  buffalo  robes,  antelope,  and 
other  skins — wrapped  up  in  bundles,  and  several  tons  of  meat, 
dried  after  the  Indian  manner,  formed  the  main  part  of  the 
spoil,  although  mention  should  be  made  of  the  almost  innumera 
ble  tin  dishes,  blankets,  cooking  utensils,  boxes  of  caps,  ammu 
nition,  saddles,  horse  equipments,  and  other  supplies  that  would 


A  SIOUX  VILLAGE  ATTACKED.  371 

prove  a  serious  loss  to  the  savages  rather  than  a  gain  to  our 
selves.  Two  hundred  ponies — many  of  them  fine  animals — not 
quite  one-half  the  herd,  fell  into  our  hands.  A  cavalry  guidon, 
nearly  new  and  torn  from  the  staff ;  an  army  officer's  overcoat ;  a 
non-commissioned  officer's  blouse ;  cavalry  saddles  of  the  McClel- 
lan  model,  covered  with  black  leather  after  the  latest  pattern  of 
the  ordnance  bureau  ;  a  glove  marked  with  the  name  of  Captain 
Keogh  ;  a  letter  addressed  to  a  private  soldier  in  the  Seventh 

Cavalry  ;  horses  branded  U.  S.  and  7  C. — one  was  branded  -,  ~   : 

were  proofs  that  the  members  of  this  band  had  ta&en  part,  and  a 
conspicuous  part,  in  the  Custer  massacre.  General  Crook  ordered 
all  the  meat  and  other  supplies  to  be  taken  from  the  village 
and  piled  up  so  that  it  could  be  issued  or  packed  upon  our 
mules.  Next,  he  ordered  the  wounded  to  receive  every  care  ; 
this  had  already  been  done,  as  far  as  he  was  able,  by  Mills,  who 
had  pitched  one  of  the  captured  lodges  in  a  cool,  shady  spot, 
near  the  stream,  and  safe  from  the  annoyance  of  random  shots 
which  the  scattered  Sioux  still  fired  from  the  distant  hills. 

A  still  more  important  task  was  that  of  dislodging  a  small 
party  who  had  run  into  a  gulch  fifty  or  sixty  yards  outside  of  th'e 
line  of  the  lodges,  from  which  they  made  it  dangerous  for  any  of 
Mills' s  command  to  enter  the  village,  and  had  already  killed  several 
of  the  pack-mules  whose  carcasses  lay  among  the  lodges.  Frank 
G-ruard  and  "Big  Bat"  were  sent  forward,  crawling  on  hands  and 
feet  from  shelter  to  shelter,  to  get  within  easy  talking  distance  of 
the  defiant  prisoners  in  the  gulch,  who  refused  to  accede  to  any 
terms  and  determined  to  fight  it  out,  confident  that  "Crazy 
Horse,"  to  whom  they  had  despatched  runners,  would  soon  hasten 
to  their  assistance.  Lieutenant  William  P.  Clarke  was  directed 
to  take  charge  of  a  picked  body  of  volunteers  and  get  the  Indians 
out  of  that  gulch  ;  the  firing  attracted  a  large  crowd  of  idlers 
and  others,  who  pressed  so  closely  upon  Clarke  and  his  party  as 
to  seriously  embarrass  their  work.  Our  men  were  so  crowded 
that  it  was  a  wonder  to  me  that  the  shots  of  the  beleaguered  did 
not  kill  them  by  the  half-dozen  ;  but  the  truth  was,  the  Sioux  did 
not  care  to  waste  a  shot :  they  were  busy  digging  rifle-pits  in  the 
soft  marly  soil  of  the  ravine,  which  was  a  perfect  ditch,  not  more 
than  ten  to  fifteen  feet  wide,  and  fifteen  to  twenty  deep,  with  a 
growth  of  box  elder  that  aided  in  concealing  their  doings  from 


372          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK 

our  eyes.  But,  whenever  a  particularly  good  chance  for  doing 
mischief  presented  itself,  the  rifle  of  the  Sioux  belched  out  its 
fatal  missile.  Private  Kennedy,  Company  "  G,"  Fifth  Cavalry, 
had  all  the  calf  of  one  leg  carried  away  by  a  bullet,  and  at  the 
same  time  another  soldier  was  shot  through  the  ankle-joint. 

The  ground  upon  which  Captain  Munson  and  I  were  standing 
suddenly  gave  way,  and  down  we  both  went,  landing  in  the  midst 
of  a  pile  of  squaws  and  children.  The  warriors  twice  tried  to 
get  aim  at  us,  but  were  prevented  by  the  crooked  shape  of 
the  ravine  ;  on  the  other  side,  "  Big  Bat "  and  another  one 
of  Stanton's  men,  named  Cary,  had  already  secured  position, 
and  were  doing  their  best  to  induce  the  Indians  to  surrender, 
crying  out  to  them  ' ( Washte-helo "  (Very  good)  and  other  ex 
pressions  in  Dakota,  the  meaning  of  which  I  did  not  clearly 
understand.  The  women  and  pappooses,  covered  with  dirt  and 
blood,  were  screaming  in  an  agony  of  terror  ;  behind  and  above 
us  were  the  oaths  and  yells  of  the  surging  soldiers  ;  back  of  the 
women  lay  what  seemed,  as  near  as  we  could  make  out,  to  be 
four  dead  bodies  still  weltering  in  their  gore.  Altogether,  the 
scene,  as  far  as  it  went,  was  decidedly  infernal ;  there  was  very 
little  to  add  to  it,  but  that  little  was  added  by  one  of  the  scouts 
named  Buffalo  White,  who  incautiously  exposed  himself  to  find 
out  what  all  the  hubbub  in  the  ravine  meant.  Hardly  had 
he  lifted  his  body  before  a  rifle-ball  pierced  him  through  and 
through.  He  cried  out  in  a  way  that  was  heart-rending  : 
"  0,  Lord  !  0,  Lord  !  They've  got  me  now,  boys  ! "  and  dropped 
limp  and  lifeless  to  the  base  of  the  hillock  upon  which  he  had 
perched  himself,  thirty  feet  into  the  ravine  below  at  its  deepest 
point. 

Encouraged  by  "  Big  Bat,"  the  squaws  and  children  ventured 
to  come  up  to  us,  and  were  conducted  down  through  the  winds 
and  turns  of  the  ravine  to  where  General  Crook  was  ;  he  ap 
proached  and  addressed  them  pleasantly  ;  the  women  divined  at 
once  who  he  was,  and  clung  to  his  hand  and  clothing,  their  own 
skirts  clutched  by  the  babies,  who  all  the  while  wailed  most  dis 
mally.  When  somewhat  calmed  down  they  said  that  their 
village  belonged  to  the  Spotted  Tail  Agency  and  was  commanded 
by  " . Roman  Nose"  and  "American  Horse/'  or  "Iron  Shield," 
the  latter  still  in  the  ravine.  General  Crook  bade  one  of  them 
go  back  and  say  that  he  would  treat  kindly  all  who  surrendered. 


SURRENDER  OF  THE  SIOUX.  373 

The  squaw  complied  and  returned  to  the  edge  of  the  ravine,  there 
holding  a  parley,  as  the  result  bringing  back  a  young  warrior 
about  twenty  years  old.  To  him  General  Crook  repeated  the 
assurances  already  given,  and  this  time  the  young  man  went  back, 
accompanied  by  ' '  Big  Bat/'  whose  arrival  unarmed  convinced 
"American  Horse"  that  General  Crook's  promises  were  not 
written  in  sand. 

"American  Horse  "  emerged  from  his  rifle-pit,  supported  on 
one  side  by  the  young  warrior,  on  the  other  by  "Big  Bat,"  and 
slowly  drew  near  the  group  of  officers  standing  alongside  of 
General  Crook  ;  the  reception  accorded  the  captives  was  gentle, 
and  their  wounded  ones  were  made  the  recipients  of  necessary 
attentions.  Out  of  this  little  nook  twenty-eight  Sioux — little 
and  great,  dead  and  alive — were  taken  ;  the  corpses  were  suffered 
to  lie  where  they  fell.  "American  Horse  "  had  been  shot  through 
the  intestines,  and  was  biting  hard  upon  a  piece  of  wood  to  sup 
press  any  sign  of  pain  or  emotion  ;  the  children  made  themselves 
at  home  around  our  fires,  and  shared  with  the  soldiers  the  food 
now  ready  for  the  evening  meal.  We  had  a  considerable  quantity 
of  dried  buffalo-meat,  a  few  buffalo-tongues,  some  pony-meat, 
and  parfleche  panniers  filled  with  fresh  and  dried  buffalo  berries, 
wild  cherries,  wild  plums,  and  other  fruit — and,  best  find  of  all,  a 
trifle  of  salt.  One  of  the  Sioux  food  preparations — dried  meat, 
pounded  up  with  wild  plums  and  wild  cherries — called  "  Toro," 
was  very  palatable  and  nutritious  ;  it  is  cousin-german  to  our 
own  plum  pudding. 

These  Indians  had  certificates-  of  good  conduct  dated  at 
Spotted  Tail  Agency  and  issued  by  Agent  Howard.  General 
Crook  ordered  that  'every  vestige  of  the  village  and  the  property 
in  it  which  could  not  be  kept  as  serviceable  to  ourselves  should  be 
destroyed.  The  whole  command  ate  ravenously  that  evening 
and  the  next  morning,  and  we  still  had  enough  meat  to  load 
down  twenty-eight  of  our  strongest  pack-mules.  This  will  show 
that  the  official  reports  that  fifty-five  hundred  pounds  had  been 
captured  were  entirely  too  conservative.  I  was  sorry  to  see  that 
the  value  of  the  wild  fruit  was  not  appreciated  by  some  of  the 
company  commanders,  who  encouraged  their  men  very  little  in 
eating  it  and  thus  lost  the  benefit  of  its  anti-scorbutic  qualities. 
All  our  wounded  were  cheerful  and  doing  well,  including  Von 
Leuttewitz,  whose  leg  had  been  amputated  at  the  thigh. 


374          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

The  barking  of  stray  puppies,  the  whining  of  children,  the 
confused  hum  of  the  conversation  going  on  among  two  thousand 
soldiers,  officers,  and  packers  confined  within  the  narrow  limits 
of  the  ravine,  were  augmented  by  the  sharp  crack  of  rifles  and 
the  whizzing  of  bullets,  because  '•'  Crazy'  Horse,"  prompt  in 
answering  the  summons  of  his  distressed  kinsmen,  was  now  on 
the  ground,  and  had  drawn  his  lines  around  our  position,  which 
he  hoped  to  take  by  assault,  not  dreaming  that  the  original 
assailants  had  been  re-enforced  so  heavily.  It  was  a  very  pretty 
fight,  what  there  was  of  it,  because  one  could  take  his  seat  almost 
anywhere  and  see  all  that  was  going  on  from  one  end  of  the  field 
to  the  other.  "  Crazy  Horse  "  moved  his  men  up  in  fine  style, 
but  seemed  to  think  better  of  the  scheme  after  the  cavalry  gave 
him  a  volley  from  their  carbines ;  the  Sioux  were  not  left  in 
doubt  long  as  to  what  they  were  to  do,  because  the  infantry  bat 
talions  commanded  by  Burt  and  Daniel  W.  Burke  got  after 
them  and  raced  them  off  the  field,  out  of  range. 

One  of  our  officers  whose  conduct  impressed  me  very  much 
was  Lieutenant  A.  B.  Bache,  Fifth  Cavalry  :  he  was  so  swollen 
with  inflammatory  rheumatism  that  he  had  been  hauled  for  days 
in  a  "  travois "  behind  a  mule ;  but,  hearing  the  roll  of  rifles 
and  carbines,  he  insisted  upon  being  mounted  upon  a  horse  and 
strapped  to  the  saddle,  that  he  might  go  out  upon  the  skirmish 
line.  We  never  had  a  better  soldier  than  he,  but  he  did  not  sur 
vive  the  hardships  of  that  campaign.  The  Sioux  did  not  care  to 
leave  the  battle-field  without  some  token  of  prowess,  and  seeing 
a  group  of  ten  or  twelve  cavalry  horses  which  had  been  aban 
doned  during  the  day,  and  were  allowed  to  follow  along  at  their 
own  pace,  merely  to  be  slaughtered  by  Bubb  for  meat  when  it 
should  be  needed,  flattered  themselves  that  they  had  a  grand 
prize  within  reach ;  a  party  of  bold  young  bucks,  anxious  to  gain 
a  trifle  of  renown,  stripped  themselves  and  their  ponies,  and 
made  a  dash  for  the  broken-down  cast-offs ;  the  skirmishers,  by 
some  sort  of  tacit  consent,  refrained  from  firing  a  shot,  and 
allowed  the  hostiles  to  get  right  into  the  "  bunch  "  and  see  how 
hopelessly  they  had  been  fooled,  and  then  when  the  Sioux  started 
to  spur  and  gallop  back  to  their  own  lines  the  humming  of  bul 
lets  apprised  them  that  our  men  were  having  the  joke  all  to 
themselves. 

Just  as  "  Crazy  Horse  "  hauled  off  his  forces,  two  soldiers  bare- 


"CRAZY  HORSE"  WITHDRAWS  HIS  FORCES.  375 

footed,  and  in  rags,  walked  down  to  our  lines  and  entered  camp  ; 
their  horses  had  "played  out"  in  the  morning,  and  were  in  the 
group  which  the  Sioux  had  wished  to  capture ;  the  soldiers 
themselves  had  lain  down  to  rest  in  a  clump  of  rocks  and  fallen 
asleep  to  be  awakened  by  the  circus  going  on  all  around  them ; 
they  kept  well  under  cover,  afraid  as  much  of  the  projectiles  of 
their  friends  as  of  the  fire  of  the  savages,  but  were  not  discovered, 
and  now  rejoined  the  command  to  be  most  warmly  and  sincerely 
congratulated  upon  their  good  fortune.  It  rained  all  night,  but 
we  did  not  care  much,  provided  as  we  now  were  with  plenty  of 
food,  plenty  of  fuel,  and  some  extra  bedding  from  the  furs  taken 
in  the  lodges.  In  the  drizzling  rain  of  that  night  the  soul  of 
"American  Horse"  took  flight,  accompanied  to  the  Happy  Hunt 
ing  Grounds  by  the  spirit  of  Private  Kennedy. 

After  breakfast  the  next  morning  General  Crook  sent  for  the 
women  and  children,  and  told  them  that  we  were  not  making 
war  upon  such  as  they,  and  that  all  those  who  so  desired  were 
free  to  stay  and  rejoin  their  own  people,  but  he  cautioned  them 
to  say  to  all  their  friends  that  the  American  Government  was 
determined  to  keep  pegging  away  at  all  Indians  in  hostility  until 
the  last  had  been  killed  or  made  a  prisoner,  and  that  the  red 
men  would  be  following  the  dictates  of  prudence  in  surrendering 
unconditionally  instead  of  remaining  at  war,  and  exposing  their 
wives  and  children  to  accidents  and  dangers  incidental  to  that 
condition.  The  young  warrior,  "Charging  Bear/'  declined  to 
go  with  the  squaws,  but  remained  with  Crook  and  enlisted  as  a 
scout,  becoming  a  corporal,  and  rendering  most  efficient  service 
in  the  campaign  during  the  following  winter  which  resulted  so 
brilliantly. 

"Crazy  Horse  "  felt  our  lines  again  as  we  were  moving  off,  but 
was  held  in  check  by  Sumner,  of  the  Fifth,  who  had  one  or  two 
men  slightly  wounded,  while  live  of  the  attacking  party  were  seen 
to  fall  out  of  their  saddles.  The  prisoners  informed  us  that  we 
were  on  the  main  trail  of  the  hostiles,  which,  although  now  split, 
was  all  moving  down  to  the  south  towards  the  agencies.  Mills, 
Bubb,  Schwatka,  Chase,  and  fifty  picked  men  of  the  Third 
Cavalry,  with  a  train  made  up  of  all  our  strong  mules  under 
Tom  Moore,  with  Frank  Gruard  as  guide,  were  once  more  sent 
forward  to  try  to  reach  Dead  wood,  learn  all  the  news  possible 
concerning  the  condition  of  the  exposed  mining  hamlets  near 


376          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

there,  and  obtain  all  the  supplies  in  sight.  Crook  was  getting 
very  anxious  to  reach  Dead  wood  before  ' '  Crazy  Horse  "  could 
begin  the  work  of  devilment  upon  which  he  and  his  bands  were 
bent,  as  the  squaws  admitted.  Bubb  bore  a  despatch  to  Sheri 
dan,  narrating  the  events  of  the  trip  since  leaving  Heart  River. 

Knowing  that  we  were  now  practically  marching  among  hos 
tile  Sioux,  who  were  watching  our  every  movement,  and  would 
be  ready  to  attack  at  the  first  sign  of  lack  of  vigilance,  Crook 
moved  the  column  in  such  a  manner  that  it  could  repel  an  attack 
within  thirty  seconds ;  that  is  to  say,  there  was  a  strong  advance- 
guard,  a  rear-guard  equally  strong,  and  lines  of  skirmishers 
moving  along  each  flank,  while  the  wounded  were  placed  on 
"travois,"  for  the  care  of  which  Captain  Andrews  and  his  com 
pany  of  the  Third  Cavalry  were  especially  detailed.  One  of  the 
lodges  was  brought  along  from  the  village  for  the  use  of  the  sick 
and  wounded,  and  afterwards  given  to  Colonel  Mills.  The 
general  character  of  the  country  between  the  Slim  Buttes  and 
the  Belle  Fourche  remained  much  the  same  as  that  from  the 
head  of  Heart  River  down,  excepting  that  there  was  a  small  por 
tion  of  timber,  for  which  we  were  truly  thankful.  The  captured 
ponies  were  butchered  and  issued  as  occasion  required ;  the 
men  becoming  accustomed  to  the  taste  of  the  meat,  which  was 
far  more  juicy  and  tender  than  that  of  the  broken-down  old 
cavalry  nags  which  we  had  been  compelled  to  eat  a  few  days 
earlier.  The  sight  of  an  antelope,  however,  seemed  to  set  every 
body  crazy,  and  when  one  was  caught  and  killed  squads  of  offi 
cers  and  men  would  fight  for  the  smallest  portion  of  flesh  or 
entrails  ;  I  succeeded  in  getting  one  liver,  which  was  carried  in 
my  nose-bag  all  day  and  broiled  over  the  ashes  at  night,  furnish 
ing  a  very  toothsome  morsel  for  all  the  members  of  our  mess. 

While  speaking  upon  the  subject  of  horse-meat,  let  me  tell 
one  of  the  incidents  vividly  imprinted  upon  memory.  Bubb's 
butcher  was  one  of  the  least  poetical  men  ever  met  in  my  journey 
through  life  ;  all  he  cared  for  was  to  know  just  what  animals 
were  to  be  slaughtered,  and  presto !  the  bloody  work  was  done, 
and  a  carcass  gleamed  in  the  evening  air.  Many  and  many  a 
pony  had  he  killed,  although  he  let  it  be  known  to  a  couple  of 
the  officers  whom  he  took  into  his  confidence  that  he  had  been 
raised  a  gentleman,  and  had  never  before  slaughtered  anything 
but  cows  and  pigs  and  sheep.  One  evening,  he  killed  a  mare 


BUBB'S  BUTCHER.  377 

whose  daughter  and  granddaughter  were  standing  by  her  side, 
the  daughter  nursing  from  the  mother  and  the  granddaughter 
from  the  daughter.  On  another  occasion  he  was  approached  by 
one  of  Stan  ton's  scouts — I  really  have  not  preserved  his  name,, 
but  it  was  the  dark  Mexican  who  several  weeks  after  killed,  and 
was  killed  by,  Carey,  his  best  friend.  After  being  paid  off,  they 
got  into  some  kind  of  a  drunken  row  in  a  gambling  saloon,  in 
Deadwood,  and  shot  each  other  to  death.  Well,  this  man  drew 
near  the  butcher  and  began  making  complaint  that  the  latter, 
without  sufficient  necessity,  had  cut  up  a  pony  which  the  guide 
was  anxious  to  save  for  his  own  use.  The  discussion  lasted  for 
several  minutes  and  terminated  without  satisfaction  to  the  scout, 
who  then  turned  to  mount  his  pony  and  ride  away  ;  no  pony  was 
to  be  seen  ;  he  certainly  had  ridden  one  down,  but  it  had  vanished 
into  vapor  ;  he  could  see  the  saddle  and  bridle  upon  the  ground, 
but  of  the  animal  not  a  trace  ;  while  he  had  been  arguing  with 
the  butcher,  the  assistants  of  the  latter  had  quickly  unsaddled 
the  mount  and  slaughtered  and  divided  it,  and  the  quarters  were 
then  on  their  way  over  to  one  of  the  battalions.  It  was  a  piece 
of  rapid  work  worthy  of  the  best  skill  of  Chicago,  but  it  con 
firmed  one  man  in  a  tendency  to  profanity  and  cynicism. 

Our  maps  led  us  into  a  very  serious  error  :  from  them  it 
appeared  that  the  South  Fork  of  Owl  Creek  was  not  more  than 
twenty  or  twenty-five  miles  from  the  Belle  Fourche,  towards  which 
we  were  trudging  so  wearily,  the  rain  still  beating  down  without 
pity.  The  foot  soldiers,  eager  to  make  the  march  which  was  to 
end  their  troubles  and  lead  them  to  food  and  rest,  were  ready  for 
the  trail  by  three  on  the  morning  of  the  12th  of  September,  and 
all  of  them  strung  out  before  four.  As  soon  as  it  was  light 
enough  we  saw  that  a  portion  of  the  trail  had  set  off  towards 
the  east,  and  Major  Upham  was  sent  with  one  hundred  and  fifty 
men  from  the  Fifth  Cavalry  to  find  out  all  about  it.  It  proved 
to  be  moving  in  the  direction  of  Bear  Lodge  Butte,  and  the  in 
tention  evidently  was  to  annoy  the  settlements  in  the  Hills  ;  one 
of  Upham's  men  went  off  without  permission,  after  antelope,  and 
was  killed  and  cut  to  pieces  by  the  prowling  bands  watching  the 
column.  The  clouds  lifted  once  or  twice  during  the  march  of 
the  12th  and  disclosed  the  outline  of  Bear  Butte,  a  great  satisfac 
tion  to  us,  as  it  proved  that  we  were  going  in  the  right  direction  for 
Deadwood.  The  country  was  evenly  divided  between  cactus  and 


378          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

grass,  in  patches  of  from  one  to  six  miles  in  breadth  ;  the  mud 
was  so  tenacious  that  every  time  foot  or  hoof  touched  it  there 
would  be  a  great  mass  of  "  gumbo  "  adhering  to  render  progress 
distressingly  tiresome  and  slow.  Our  clothing  was  in  rags  of  the 
flimsiest  kind,  shoes  in  patches,  and  the  rations  captured  at  the 
"village  exhausted.  Mules  and  horses  were  black  to  the  houghs 
with  the  accretions  of  a  passage  through  slimy  ooze  which  pulled 
off  their  shoes. 

Crook's  orders  to  the  men  in  •  advance  were  to  keep  a  sharp 
lookout  for  anything  in  the  shape  of  timber,  as  the  column  was 
to  halt  and  bivouac  the  moment  we  struck  anything  that  would 
do  to  make  a  fire.  On  we  trudged,  mile  succeeding  mile,  and 
still  no  sign  of  the  fringe  of  cotton  wood,  willow,  and  elder  which 
we  had  been  taught  to  believe  represented  the  line  of  the  stream 
of  which  we  were  in  search.  The  rain  poured  down,  clothes 
dripped  with  moisture,  horses  reeled  and  staggered,  and  were  one 
by  one  left  to  follow  or  remain  as  they  pleased,  while  the  men,  all 
of  whom  were  dismounted  and  leading  their  animals,  fell  out 
singly,  in  couples,  in  squads,  in  solid  platoons.  It  was  half-past 
ten  o'clock  that  never-to-be-forgotten  night,  when  the  last  foot 
soldier  had  completed  his  forty  miles,  and  many  did  not  pretend 
to  do  it  before  the  next  morning,  but  lay  outside,  in  rear  of  the 
column,  on  the  muddy  ground,  as  insensible  to  danger  and  pain 
as  if  dead  drunk. 

We  did  not  reach  the  Belle  Fourche  that  night,  but  a  tributary 
called  Willow  Creek  which  answered  every  purpose,  as  it  had  an 
abundance  of  box-elder,  willow,  ash,  and  plum  bushes,  which 
before  many  minutes  crackled  and  sprang  skyward  in  a  joyous 
flame ;  we  piled  high  the  dry  wood  wherever  found,  thinking  to 
stimulate  comrades  who  were  weary  with  marching  arid  sleep 
ing  without  the  cheerful  consolation 'of  a  sparkling  camp-fire. 
There  wasn't  a  thing  to  eat  in  the  whole  camp  but  pony-meat, 
slices  of  which  were  sizzling  upon  the  coals,  but  the  poor  fellows 
who  did  not  get  in  killed  their  played-out  horses  and  ate  the 
meat  raw.  If  any  of  my  readers  imagines  that  the  march  from 
the  head  of  Heart  River  down  to  the  Belle  Fourche  was  a  picnic, 
let  him  examine  the  roster  of  the  command  and  tell  off  the 
scores  and  scores  of  men,  then  hearty  and  rugged,  who  now  fill 
premature  graves  or  drag  out  an  existence  with  constitutions 
wrecked  and  enfeebled  by  such  privations  and  vicissitudes. 


THE  BELLE  FOURCHE.  379 

There  may  still  be  people  who  give  credence  to  the  old  supersti 
tions  about  the  relative  endurance  of  horses  of  different  colors, 
and  believe  that  white  is  the  weakest  color.  For  their  informa 
tion  I  wish  to  say  that  the  company  of  cavalry  which  had  the 
smallest  loss  of  horses  during  this  exhausting  march  was  the 
white  horse  troop  of  the  Fifth,  commanded  by  Captain  Robert 
H.  Montgomery  ;  I  cannot  place  my  fingers  upon  the  note 
referring  to  it,  but  I  will  state  from  recollection  that  not  one 
of  them  was  left  behind. 

On  the  13th  we  remained  in  camp  until  noon  to  let  men  have 
a  rest  and  give  stragglers  a  chance  to  catch  up  with  the  com 
mand.  Our  cook  made  a  most  tempting  ragout  out  of  some 
pony-meat,  a  fragment  of  antelope  liver,  a  couple  of  handfuls  of 
wild  onions,  and  the  shin-bone  of  an  ox  killed  by  the  Sioux  or 
Cheyennes,  and  which  was  to  us  almost  as  interesting  as  the 
fragments  of  weeds  to  the  sailors  of  Columbus.  This  had  been 
simmering  all  night,  and  when  morning  came  there  was  enough 
of  it  to  supply  many  of  our  comrades  with  a  hot  platterful.  At 
noon  we  crossed  to  the  Belle  Fourche,  six  miles  to  the  south, 
the  dangerous  approaches  of  Willow  Creek  being  corduroyed  and 
placed  in  good  order  by  a  party  under  Lieutenant  Charles  King, 
who  had  been  assigned  by  General  Merritt  to  the  work.. 

The  Belle  Fourche  appealed  to  our  fancies  as  in  every  sense 
deserving  of  its  flattering  title  :  it  was  not  less  than  one  hundred 
feet  wide,  three  deep,  with  a  good  flow  of  water,  and  a  current  of 
something  like  four  miles  an  hour.  The  bottom  was  clay  and 
sandstone  drift,  and  even  if  the  water  was  a  trifle  muddy,  it 
tasted  delicious  after  our  late  tribulations.  Wells  dug  in  the 
banks  afforded  even  better  quality  for  drinking  or  cooking.  The 
dark  clouds  still  hung  threateningly  overhead,  but  what  of  that  ? 
all  eyes  were  strained  in  the  direction  of  Dead  wood,  for  word  had 
come  from  Mills  and  Bubb  that  they  had  been  successful,  and 
that  we  were  soon  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  wagons  laden  with 
food  for  our  starving  command.  A  murmur  rippled  through 
camp  ;  in  a  second  it  had  swelled  into  a  roar,  and  broken  into  a 
wild  cry,  half  yell,  half  cheer.  Down  the  hill-sides  as  fast  as 
brawny  men  could  drive  them  ran  fifty  head  of  beef  cattle,  and 
not  more  than  a  mile  in  the  rear  wagon  sheets  marked  out  the 
slower-moving  train  with  the  supplies  of  the  commissariat. 

As  if  to  manifest  sympathy  with  our  feelings,  the  sun  unveiled 


380          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

himself,  and  for  one  good  long  hour  shone  down  through  scatter 
ing  clouds — the  first  fair  look  we  had  had  at  his  face  for  ten  dreary 
days.  Since  our  departure  from  Furey  and  the  wagon-train,  it 
had  rained  twenty-two  days,  most  of  the  storms  being  of  phe 
nomenal  severity,  and  it  would  need  a  very  strong  mind  not  to 
cherish  the  delusion  that  the  elements  were  in  league  with  the  red 
men  to  preserve  the  hunting  lands  of  their  fathers  from  the  grasp 
of  the  rapacious  whites.  When  the  supplies  arrived  the  great  aim 
»of  every  one"  seemed  to  be  to  carry  out  the  old  command  :  "  Eat, 
drink,  and  be  merry,  for  to-morrow  ye  die/"  The  busy  hum  of 
cheerful  conversation  succeeded  to  the  querulous  discontent  of 
the  past  week,  and  laughter  raised  the  spirits  of  the  most  tired 
and  despondent ;  we  had  won  the  race  and  saved  the  Black  Hills 
with  their  thousands  of  unprotected  citizens,  four  hundred  of 
whom  had  been  murdered  since  the  summer  began.  The  first 
preacher  venturing  out  to  Dead  wood  paid  the  penalty  of  his  rash 
ness  with  his  life,  and  yielded  his  scalp  to  the  Cheyennes.  It 
was  the  most  ordinary  thing  in  the  world  to  have  it  reported  that 
one,  or  two,  or  three  bodies  more  were  to  be  found  in  such  and 
such  a  gulch  ;  they  were  buried  by  people  in  no  desire  to  remain 
near  the  scene  of  horror,  and  as  the  Hills  were  filling  up  witli 
restless  spirits  from  all  corners  of  the  world,  and  no  one  knew  his 
neighbor,  it  is  doubtful  if  all  the  murdered  ones  were  ever  reported 
to  the  proper  authorities.  When  the  whites  succeeded  in  killing 
an  Indian,  which  happened  at  extremely  rare  intervals,  Dead- 
wood  would  go  crazy  with  delight ;  the  skull  and  scalp  were  pa 
raded  and  sold  at  public  auction  to  the  highest  bidder. 


CHAPTER     XXII. 

TO  AND  THROUGH  THE  BLACK  HILLS— HOW  DEADWOOD  LOOKED 
IN  1876— THE  DEADWOOD  "ACADEMY  OF  MUSIC " — THE 
SECOND  WINTER  CAMPAIGN — THE  NAMES  OF  THE  INDIAN 
SCOUTS — WIPING  OUT  THE  CHEYENNE  VILLAGE — LIEUTEN 
ANT  MCKINNEY  KILLED — FOURTEEN  CHEYENNE  BABIES 
FROZEN  TO  DEATH  IN  THEIR  MOTHERS'  ARMS — THE  CUS- 
TER  MASSACRE  AGAIN — THE  TERRIBLE  EXPERIENCE  OF 
RANDALL  AND  THE  CROW  SCOUTS. 

THE  joy  of  the  people  in  the  Hills  knew  no  bounds ;  the 
towns  of  Deadwood,  Crook  City,  Montana,  and  many  others 
proceeded  to  celebrate  the  news  of  their  freedom  and  safety 
by  all  the  methods  suitable  to  such  a  momentous  occasion  in  a 
frontier  civilization :  there  was  much  in  the  way  of  bonfires,  the 
firing  of  salutes  from  anvils,  cheering,  mass-meetings,  alleged 
music,  and  no  small  portion  of  hard  drinking.  By  resolution  of 
the  Deadwood  Council,  a  committee,  consisting  of  the  first  mayor, 
Farnum,  and  councilmen  Kurtz,  Dawson,  and  Philbrick,  was 
sent  out  to  meet  General  Crook  and  extend  to  him  and  his  offi 
cers  the  freedom  of  the  city;  in  the  same  carriage  with  them 
came  Mr.  Wilbur  Hugus,  who  had 'assisted  me  in  burying  Captain 
Philip  Dwyer  at  Camp  Date  Creek,  Arizona,  four  years  previ 
ously.  The  welcome  extended  these  representatives  was  none  the 
less  cordial  because  they  had  brought  along  with  them  a  most 
acceptable  present  of  butter,  eggs,  and  vegetables  raised  in  the 
Hills.  Despatches  were  also  received  from  General  Sheridan, 
informing  Crook  that  the  understanding  was  that  the  hostiles 
were  going  to  slip  into  the  agencies,  leaving  out  in  the  Big  Horn 
country  "  Crazy  Horse  "  and  ' '  Sitting  Bull/'  with  their  bands, 
until  the  next  spring.  To  prevent  a  recurrence  of  the  campaign 
the  next  year,  Sheridan  was  determined  to  disarm  and  dismount 
all  the  new  arrivals,  and  for  that  purpose  had  stationed  a  strong 
force  at  each  agency,  but  he  wished  Crook  to  move  in  with  his 


382          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

command  to  "Red  Cloud  "  and  "Spotted  Tail  "and  superintend 
the  work  there  instead  of  remaining  in  the  Hills  as  Crook  wished 
to  do,  and  continue  the  campaign  from  there  with  some  of  the 
towns,  either  Deadwood  or  Ouster  City,  as  might  be  found  hest 
adapted  to  the  purpose,  as  a  base.  Congress  had  authorized  the 
enlistment  of  four  hundred  additional  Indian  scouts,  and  had 
also  appropriated  a  liberal  sum  for  the  construction  of  the  posts 
on  the  Yellowstone.  Crook  was  to  turn  over  the  command  to 
Merritt,  and  proceed  in  person,  as  rapidly  as  possible,  to  confer 
with  Sheridan,  who  was  awaiting  him  at  Fort  Laramie,  with  a 
view  to  designating  the  force  to  occupy  the  site  of  old  Fort  Eeno 
during  the  winter. 

After  enduring  the  hardships  and  discomforts  of  the  march 
from  the  head  of  Heart  River,  the  situation  in  the  bivouac  on 
the  Whitewood,  a  beautiful  stream  flowing  out  of  the  Hills  at 
their  northern  extremity,  was  most  romantic  and  pleasurable. 
The  surrounding  knolls  were  thickly  grassed ;  cold,  clear  water 
stood  in  deep  pools  hemmed  in  by  thick  belts  of  timber ;  and 
there  was  an  abundance  of  juicy  wild  plums,  grapes,  and  bull 
berries,  now  fully  ripe,  and  adding  a  grateful  finish  to  meals 
which  included  nearly  everything  that  man  could  desire,  brought 
down  in  wagons  by  the  enterprising  dealers  of  Deadwood,  who 
reaped  a  golden  harvest.  We  were  somewhat  bewildered  at  sit 
ting  down  before  a  canvas  upon  which  were  to  be  seen  warm 
bread  baked  in  ovens  dug  in  tho  ground,  delicious  coffee,  to  the 
aroma  of  which  we  had  been  for  so  long  a  time  strangers,  broiled 
and  stewed  meat,  fresh  eggs,  pickles,  preserves,  and  fresh  vege 
tables.  Soldiers  are  in  one  respect  like  children  :  they  forget 
the  sorrows  of  yesterday  in  the  delights  of  to-day,  and  give  to 
glad  song  the  same  voices  which  a  few  hours  ago  were  loudest  in 
grumbling  and  petty  complaint.  So  it  was  with  our  camp  :  the 
blazing  fires  were  surrounded  by  crowds  of  happy  warriors,  each 
rivalling  the  other  in  tales  of  the  "times  we  had"  in  a  march 
whose  severity  has  never  been  approached  by  that  made  by  any 
column  of  our  army  of  the  same  size,  and  of  which  so  little  is 
known  that  it  may  truly  be  said  that  the  hardest  work  is  the 
soonest  forgotten. 

Crook  bade  good-by  to  the  officers  and  men  who  had  toiled 
along  with  him  through  the  spring  and  summer,  and  then  headed 
for  the  post  of  Fort  Robinson,  Nebraska,  one  hundred  and  sixty 


DEADWOOD.  383 

miles  to  the  south.  For  one-half  this  distance  our  road  followed 
down  through  the  centre  of  the  Black  Hills,  a  most  entrancing 
country,  laid  out  apparently  by  a  landscape  artist ;  it  is  not  so 
high  as  the  Big  Horn  range,  although  Harney's  and  other  peaks 
of  granite  project  to  a  great  elevation,  their  flanks  dark  with 
pine,  fir,  and  other  coniferge  ;  the  foot-hills  velvety  with  health 
ful  pasturage ;  the  narrow  valleys  of  the  innumerable  petty 
creeks  a  jungle  of  willow,  wild  rose,  live  oak,  and  plum.  Climb 
ing  into  the  mountains,  one  can  find  any  amount  of  spruce, 
juniper,  cedar,  fir,  hemlock,  birch,  and  whitewood;  there  are  no 
lakes,  but  the  springs  are  legion  and  fill  with  gentle  melody  the 
romantic  glens — the  retreat  of  the  timid  deer. 

A  description  of  Dead  wood  as  it  appeared  at  that  time  will 
suffice  for  all  the  settlements  of  which  it  was  the  metropolis. 
Crook  City,  Montana,  Hills  City,  Castleton,  Ouster  City,  and 
others  through  which  we  passed  were  better  built  than  Dead  wood 
and  better  situated  for  expansion,  but  Deadwood  had  struck  it 
rich  in  its  placers,  and  the  bulk  of  the  population  took  root 
there.  Crook  City  received  our  party  most  hospitably,  and  in 
sisted  upon  our  sitting  down  to  a  good  hot  breakfast,  after 
which  we  pressed  on  to  Deadwood,  twenty  miles  or  more  from 
our  camping  place  on  the  Whitewood.  The  ten  miles  of  distance 
from  Crook  City  to  Deadwood  was  lined  on  both  sides  with  deep 
ditches  and  sluice-boxes,  excavated  to  develop  or  work  the  rich 
gravel  lying  along  the  entire  gulch.  But  it  seemed  to  me  that 
with  anything  like  proper  economy  and  care  there  was  wealth 
enough  in  the  forests  to  make  the  prosperity  of  any  community, 
and  supply  not  alone  the  towns  which  might  spring  up  in  the 
hills,  but  build  all  the  houses  and  stables  needed  in  the  great 
pastures  north,  as  far  as  the  head  of  the  Little  Missouri.  It  was 
the  16th  of  September  when  we  entered  Deadwood,  and  although 
I  had  been  through  the  Black  Hills  with  the  exploring  expedi 
tion  commanded  by  Colonel  Dodge,  the  previous  year,  and  was 
well  acquainted  with  the  beautiful  country  we  were  to  see,  I  was 
unbalanced  by  the  exhibition  of  the  marvellous  energy  of  the 
American  people  now  laid  before  us.  The  town  had  been  laid 
off  in  building  lots  on  the  15th  of  May,  and  all  supplies  had  to 
be  hauled  in  wagons  from  the  railroad  two  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  away  and  through  bodies  of  savages  who  kept  up  a  constant 
series  of  assaults  and  ambuscades. 


384          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

The  town  was  situated  at  the  junction  of  the  Whifcewood  and 
Dead  wood  creeks  or  gulches,  each  of  which  was  covered  by  a 
double  line  of  block-houses  to  repel  a  sudden  attack  from  the 
ever-to-be-dreaded  enemy,  the  Sioux  and  Cheyennes,  of  whose 
cruelty  and  desperate  hostility  the  mouths  of  the  inhabitants 
and  the  columns  of  the  two  newspapers  were  filled.  I  remember 
one  of  these  journals,  The  Pioneer,  edited  at  that  time  by  a 
young  man  named  Merrick,  whose  life  had  been  pleasantly 
divided  into  three  equal  parts — setting  type,  hunting  for  Indians, 
and  "  rasslin'  "  for  grub — during  the  days  when  the  whole  com 
munity  was  reduced  to  deer-meat  and  anything  else  they  could 
pick  up.  Merrick  was  a  very  bright,  energetic  man,  and  had  he 
lived  would  have  been  a  prominent  citizen  in  the  new  settle 
ments.  It  speaks  volumes  for  the  intelligence  of  the  element 
rolling  into  the  new  El  Dorado  to  say  that  the  subscription  lists 
of  The  Pioneer  even  then  contained  four  hundred  names.- 

The  main  street  of  Deadwood,  twenty  yards  wide,  was  packed 
by  a  force  of  men,  drawn  from  all  quarters,  aggregating  thou 
sands  ;  and  the  windows  of  both  upper  and  lower  stories  of  the 
eating-houses,  saloons,  hotels,  and  wash-houses  were  occupied  by 
women  of  good,  bad,  and  indifferent  reputation.  There  were 
vociferous  cheers,  clappings  of  hands,  wavings  of  handkerchiefs, 
shrieks  from  the  whistles  of  the  planing  mills,  reports  from 
powder  blown  off  in  anvils,  and  every  other  manifestation  of 
welcome  known  to  the  populations  of  mining  towns.  The 
almond-eyed  Celestial  laundrymen  had  absorbed  the  contagion  of 
the  hour,  and  from  the  doors  of  the  (i Centennial  Wash-House" 
gazed  with  a  complacency  unusual  to  them  upon  the  doings  of 
the  Western  barbarians.  We  were  assigned  quarters  in  the  best 
hotel  of  the  town  :  "The  Grand  Central  Hotel,  Main  Street,  op 
posite  Theatre,  C.  H.  Wagner,  Prop,  (formerly  of  the  Walker 
House  and  Saddle  Kock  Eestaurant,  Salt  Lake),  the  only  first- 
class  hotel  in  Deadwood  City,  D.  T." 

This  was  a  structure  of  wood,  of  two  stories,  the  lower  used 
for  the  purposes  of  offices,  dining-room,  saloon,  and  kitchen  ;  the 
upper  was  devoted  to  a  parlor,  and  the  rest  was  partitioned  into 
bedrooms,  of  which  I  wish  to  note  the  singular  feature  that  the 
partitions  did  not  reach  more  than  eight  feet  above  the  floor,  and 
thus  every  word  said  in  one  room  was  common  property  to  all 
along  that  corridor.  The  "  Grand  Central  "  was,  as  might  be 


DEADWOOD  ARCHITECTURE.  385 

expected,  rather  crude  in  outline  and  construction,  but  the 
furniture  was  remarkably  good,  and  the  table  decidedly  better 
than  one  had  a  right  to  look  for,  all  circumstances  con 
sidered.  Owing  to  the  largeness  of  our  party,  the  escort  and 
packers  were  divided  off  between  the  "I.  X.  L."  and  the 
"  Centennial"  hotels,  while  the  horses  and  mules  found  good  ac 
commodations  awaiting  them  in  Clarke's  livery  stable.  I  suppose 
that  much  of  this  will  be  Greek  to  the  boy  or  girl  growing  up  in 
Deadwood,  who  may  also  be  surprised  to  hear  that  very  many  of 
the  habitations  were  of  canvas,  others  of  unbar ked  logs,  and 
some  few  (e dug-outs"  in  the  clay  banks.  By  the  law  of  the 
community,  a  gold  placer  or  ledge  could  be  followed  anywhere, 
regardless  of  other  property  rights  ;  in  consequence  of  this,  the 
office  of  The  Pioneer  was  on  stilts,  being  kept  in  countenance 
by  a  Chinese  laundryman  whose  establishment  was  in  the  same 
predicament.  Miners  were  at  work  under  them,  and  it  looked 
as  if  it  would  be  more  economical  to  establish  one's  self  in  a 
balloon  in  the  first  place. 

That  night,  after  supper,  the  hills  were  red  with  the  flare  and 
flame  of  bonfires,  and  in  front  of  the  hotel  had  assembled  a  large 
crowd,  eager  to  have  a  talk  with  General  Crook  ;  this  soon  came, 
and  the  main  part  of  the  General's  remarks  was  devoted  to  an 
expression  of  his  desire  to  protect  the  new  settlements  from 
threatened  danger,  while  the  citizens,  on  their  side,  recited  the 
various  atrocities  and  perils  which  had  combined  to  make  the 
early  history  of  the  settlements,  and  presented  a  petition,  signed 
by  seven  hundred  and  thirteen  full-grown  white  citizens,  ask 
ing  for  military  protection.  Then  followed  a  reception  in  the 
"Deadwood  Theatre  and  Academy  of  Music,"  built  one-half  of 
boards  and  the  other  half  of  canvas.  After  the  reception,  there 
was  a  performance  by  "Miller's  Grand  Combination  Troupe, 
with  the  Following  Array  of  Stars."  It  was  the  usual  variety 
show  of  the  mining  towns  and  villages,  but  much  of  it  was  quite 
good  ;  one  of  the  saddest  interpolations  was  the  vocalization  by 
Miss  Viola  de  Montmorency,  the  Queen  of  Song,  prior  to  her 
departure  for  Europe  to  sing  before  the  crowned  heads.  Miss 
Viola  was  all  right,  but  her  voice  might  have  had  several  stitches 
in  it,  and  been  none  the  worse  ;  if  she  never  comes  back  from 
the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  until  I  send  for  her,  she  will  be 
considerably  older  than  she  was  that  night  when  a  half-drunken 
25 


386          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

miner  energetically  insisted  that  she  was  "  old  enough  to  have 
another  set  o'  teeth."  We  left  the  temple  of  the  Muses  to  walk 
along  the  main  street  and  look  in  upon  the  stores,  which  were 
filled  with  all  articles  desirable  in  a  mining  district,  and  many 
others  not  usual  in  so  young  a  community.  Clothing,  heavy 
and  light,  hardware,  tinware,  mess-pans,  camp-kettles,  blankets, 
saddlery,  harness,  rifles,  cartridges,  wagon-grease  and  blasting 
powder,  india-rubber  boots  and  garden  seeds,  dried  and  canned 
fruits,  sardines,  and  yeast  powders,  loaded  down  the  shelves  ;  the 
medium  of  exchange  was  gold  dust ;  each  counter  displayed  a 
pair  of  delicate  scales,  and  every  miner  carried  a  buckskin  pouch 
containing  the  golden  grains  required  for  daily  use. 

Greenbacks  were  not  in  circulation,  and  already  commanded  a 
premium  of  five  per  cent,  on  account  of  their  portability.  Gam 
bling  hells  flourished,  and  all  kinds  of  games  were  to  be  found — 
three  card  monte,  keno,  faro,  roulette,  and  poker.  Close  by 
these  were  the  "hurdy-gurdies,"  where  the  music  from  asth 
matic  pianos  timed  the  dancing  of  painted,  padded,  and  leering 
Aspasias,  too  hideous  to  hope  for  a  livelihood  in  any  village  less 
remote  from  civilization.  We  saw  and  met  representatives  of  all 
classes  of  society — gamblers,  chevaliers  d'industrie,  callow  fledg 
lings,  ignorant  of  the  world  and  its  ways,  experienced  miners 
who  had  labored  in  other  fields,  men  broken  down  in  other  pur 
suits,  noble  women  who  had  braved  all  perils  to  be  by  their  hus 
bands'  sides,  smart  little  children,  and  children  who  were  adepts 
in  profanity  and  all  other  vices — just  such  a  commingling  as 
might  be  looked  for,  but  we  saw  very  little  if  any  drinking,  and 
the  general  tone  of  the  place  was  one  of  good  order  and  law,  to 
which  vice  and  immorality  must  bow. 

We  started  out  from  Deadwood,  and  rode  through  the  beauti 
ful  hills  from  north  to  south,  passing  along  over  well-constructed 
corduroy  roads  to  Ouster  City,  sixty  miles  to  the  south  ;  about 
half  way  we  met  a  wagon-train  of  supplies,  under  charge  of 
Captain  Frank  Guest  Smith,  of  the  Fourth  Artillery,  and  re 
mained  a  few  moments  to  take  luncheon  with  himself  and  his 
subordinates — Captain  Gushing  and  Lieutenants  Jones,  Howe, 
Taylor,  and  Anderson,  and  Surgeon  Price.  Custer  City  was  a 
melancholy  example  of  a  town  with  the  "  boom  "  knocked  out  of 
it ;  there  must  have  been  as  many  as  four  hundred  comfortable 
houses  arranged  in  broad,  rectilinear  streets,  but  not  quite  three 


CONFERENCE  WITH  SHERIDAN.  387 

hundred  souls  remained,  and  all  the  trade  of  the  place  was 
dependent  upon  the  three  saw  and  shingle  mills  still  running  at 
full  time.  Here  we  found  another  wagon-train  of  provisions, 
under  command  of  Captain  Egan  and  Lieutenant  Allison,  of  the 
Second  Cavalry,  who  very  kindly  insisted  upon  exchanging  their 
fresh  horses  for  our  tired-out  steeds  so  as  to  let  us  go  on  at  once  on 
our  still  long  ride  of  nearly  one  hundred  miles  south  to  Robin 
son  ;  we  travelled  all  night,  stopping  at  intervals  to  let  the  horses 
have  a  bite  of  grass,  but  as  Randall  and  Sibley  were  left  behind 
with  the  pack-train,  our  reduced  party  kept  a  rapid  gait  along 
the  wagon  road,  and  arrived  at  the  post  the  next  morning  shortly 
after  breakfast.  Near  Buffalo  Gap  we  crossed  the  "Amphibi 
ous"  Creek,  which  has  a  double  bottom,  the  upper  one  being  a 
crust  of  sulphuret  of  lime,  through  which  rider  and  horse  will 
often  break  to  the  discomfort  and  danger  of  both  ;  later  on  we 
traversed  the  "Bad  Lands,"  in  which  repose  the  bones  of  count 
less  thousands  of  fossilized  monsters — tortoises,  lizards,  and  others 
— which  will  yet  be  made  to  pay  heavy  tribute  to  the  museums 
of  the  world.  Here  we  met  the  officers  of  the  garrison  as  well  as 
the  members  of  the  commission  appointed  by  the  President  to 
confer  with  the  Sioux,  among  whom  I  remember  Bishop  Whipple, 
Judge  Moneypenny,  Judge  Gaylord,  and  others. 

This  terminated  the  summer  campaign,  although,  as  one  of  the 
results  of  Crook's  conference  with  Sheridan  at  Fort  Laramie,  the 
Ogallalla  chiefs  "Red  Cloud"  and  "Red  Leaf"  were  surrounded 
on  the  morning  of  the  23d  of  October,  and  all  their  guns  and 
ponies  taken  from  them.  There  were  seven  hundred  and  five 
ponies  and  fifty  rifles.  These  bands  were  supposed  to  have  been 
selling  arms  and  ammunition  to  the  part  of  the  tribe  in  open 
hostility,  and  this  action  of  the  military  was  precipitated  by 
"Red  Cloud V  refusal  to  obey  the  orders  to  move  his  village 
close  to  the  agency,  so  as  to  prevent  the  incoming  stragglers  from 
being  confounded  with  those  who  had  remained  at  peace.  He 
moved  his  village  over  to  the  Chadron  Creek,  twenty-two  miles 
away,  where  he  was  at  the  moment  of  being  surrounded  and 
arrested. 

General  Crook  had  a  conference  with  the  head  men  of  the  Ogal- 
lallas  and  Bruits,  the  Cheyennes  and  Arapahoes,  and  told  them 
in  plain  language  what  he  expected  them  to  do.  The  Government 
of  the  United  States  was  feeding  them,  and  was  entitled  to  loyal 


388          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

behavior  in  return,  instead  of  which  many  of  our  citizens  had 
been  killed  and  the  trails  of  the  murderers  ran  straight  for  the 
Red  Cloud  Agency  ;  it  was  necessary  for  the  chiefs  to  show  their 
friendship  by  something  more  than  empty  words,  and  they  would 
be  held  accountable  for  the  good  behavior  of  their  young  men. 
He  did  not  wish  to  do  harm  to  any  one,  but  he  had  been  sent  out 
there  to  maintain  order  and  he  intended  to  do  it,  and  if  the 
Sioux  did  not  see  that  it  was  to  their  interest  to  help  they  would 
soon  regret  their  blindness.  If  all  the  Sioux  would  come  in  and 
start  life  as  stock -raisers,  the  trouble  would  end  at  once,  but  so 
long  as  any  remained  out,  the  white  men  would  insist  upon  war 
being  made,  and  he  should  expect  all  the  chiefs  there  present  to 
aid  in  its  prosecution. 

There  were  now  fifty-three  companies  of  soldiers  at  Red  Cloud, 
and  they  could  figure  for  themselves  just  how  long  they  could 
withstand  such  force.  "Red  Cloud  "had  been  insolent  to  all 
officers  placed  over  him,  and  his  sympathies  with  the  hostiles  had 
been  open  and  undisguised  ;  therefore  he  had  been  deposed,  and 
"  Spotted  Tail,"  who  had  been  friendly,  was  to  be  the  head  chief 
of  all  the  Sioux. 

The  assignment  of  the  troops  belonging  to  the  summer  expedi 
tion  to  winter  quarters,  and  the  organization  from  new  troops  of 
the  expedition,  which  was  to  start  back  and  resume  operations  in 
the  Big  Horn  and  Yellowstone  country,  occupied  several  weeks 
to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  business,  and  it  was  late  in  October 
before  the  various  commands  began  concentrating  at  Fort  Fetter- 
man  for  the  winter's  work. 

The  wagon-train  left  at  Powder  River,  or  rather  at  Goose 
Creek,  under  Major  Furey,  had  been  ordered  in  by  General 
Sheridan,  and  had  reached  Fort  Laramie  and  been  overhauled 
and  refitted.  It  then  returned  to  Fetterman  to  take  part  in 
the  coming  expedition.  General  Crook  took  a  small  party  to 
the  summit  of  the  Laramie  Peak,  and  killed  and  brought  back 
sixty-four  deer,  four  elk,  four  mountain  sheep,  and  one  cinnamon 
bear ;  during  the  same  week  he  had  a  fishing  party  at  work  on 
the  North  Platte  River,  and  caught  sixty  fine  pike  weighing  one 
hundred  and  one  pounds. 

Of  the  resulting  winter  campaign  I  do  not  intend  to  say 
much,  having  in  another  volume  described  it  completely  and  mi 
nutely  ;  to  that  volume  ("Mackenzie's  Last  Fight  with  the  Chey- 


MACKENZIE'S  CAMPAIGN  IN  WYOMING.  389 

ennes — a  Winter  Campaign  in  Wyoming")  the  curious  reader 
is  referred ;  but  at  the  present  time,  as  the  country  operated  in 
was  precisely  the  same  as  that  gone  over  during  the  preceding 
winter  and  herein  described — as  the  Indians  in  hostility  were  the 
same,  with  the  same  habits  and  peculiarities,  I  can  condense 
this  section  to  a  recapitulation  of  the  forces  engaged,  the  fights 
fought,  and  the  results  thereof,  as  well  as  a  notice  of  the  invalua 
ble  services  rendered  by  the  Indian  scouts,  of  whom  Crook  was 
now  able  to  enlist  all  that  he  desired,  the  obstructive  element — 
the  Indian  agent — having  been  displaced.  Although  this  com 
mand  met  with  severe  weather,  as  its  predecessor  had  done,  yet 
it  was  so  well  provided  and  had  such  a  competent  force  of  Indian 
scouts  that  the  work  to  be  done  by  the  soldiers  was  reduced  to 
the  zero  point ;  had  Crook's  efforts  to  enlist  some  of  the  Indians 
at  Red  Cloud  Agency  not  been  frustrated  by  the  agent  and 
others  in  the  spring,  the  war  with  the  hostile  Sioux  and  Chey- 
ennes  would  have  been  over  by  the  4th  of  July,  instead  of  drag 
ging  its  unsatisfactory  length  along  until  the  second  winter  and 
entailing  untold  hardships  and  privations  upon  officers  and  men 
and  swelling  the  death  roll  of  the  settlers. 

The  organization  with  which  Crook  entered  upon  his  second 
winter  campaign  was  superb  in  equipment ;  nothing  was  lacking 
that  money  could  provide  or  previous  experience  suggest.  There 
were  eleven  companies  of  cavalry,  of  which  only  one — "  K,"  of 
the  Second  (Egan's) — had  been  engaged  in  previous  movements, 
but  all  were  under  excellent  discipline  and  had  seen  much  service 
in  other  sections. 

Besides  Egan's  there  were  "H"  and  "  K,"  of  the  Third, 
"B,"  "V,"  "E,"  "F,"  "I, "and  "M," .of  the  Fourth,  and 
f<  H  "  and  "  L,"  of  the  Fifth  Cavalry.  These  were  placed  under 
the  command  of  Colonel  Ranald  S.  Mackenzie,  of  the  Fourth 
Cavalry. 

Colonel  R.  I.  Dodge,  Twenty-third  Infantry,  commanded  the 
infantry  and  artillery  companies,  the  latter  serving  as  foot 
troops  ;  his  force  included  Batteries  "  C,"  "  F,"  "  H,"  and  "  K," 
of  the  Fourth  Artillery  ;  Companies  "  A/'  "  B/'  "  0,"  "  F," 
"I,"  and  "  K,"  of  the  Ninth  Infantry  ;  "V  "  and  "  G,"  of  the 
Fourteenth  Infantry ;  and  "  0,"  "G,"  and  "I,"  of  the  Twenty- 
third  Infantry. 

General   Crook's   personal   staff  was   composed  of  myself   as 


390          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Acting  Assistant  Adjutant-General  ;  Schuyler  and  Clarke,  Aides- 
de-Camp  ;  Eandall,  Chief  of  Scouts  ;  Rockwell,  of  the  Fifth  Cav 
alry,  as  Commissary  ;  Surgeon  Joseph  R.  Gibson  as  Chief  Medical 
Officer. 

In  the  list  of  officers  starting  out  with  this  expedition  are  to  be 
found  the  names  of  Major  G.  A.  Gordon,  Fifth  Cavalry,  and 
Major  E.  F.  Townsend,  Ninth  Infantry,  and  Captain  0.  V. 
Mauck,  Fourth  Cavalry,  and  Captain  J.  B.  Campbell,  Fourth 
Artillery,  commanding  battalions  ;  Lieutenant  Hayden  Delaney, 
Mnth  Infantry,  commanding  company  of  Indian  scouts  ;  and  the 
following  from  the  various  regiments,  arranged  without  regard 
to  rank  :  Wessels  and  Hammond  ;  Gerald  Eussell,  Oscar  Elting, 
and  George  A.  Dodd,  of  the  Third  Cavalry  ;  James  Egan  and 
James  Allison,  of  the  Second  Cavalry  ;  John  M.  Hamilton, 
E.  W.  Ward  and  E.  P.  Andrus,  Alfred  B.  Taylor  and  H.  W. 
Wheeler,  of  the  Fifth  Cavalry  ;  J.  H.  Dorst,  H.  W.  Lawton, 
C.  Mauck,  J.  W.  Martin,  John  Lee,  C.  M.  Callahan,  S.  A. 
Mason,  H.  H.  Bellas,  Wirt  Davis,  F.  L.  Shoemaker,  J.  Wesley 
Eosenquest,  W.  C.  Hemphill,  J.  A.  McKinney,  H.  G.  Otis,  of 
the  Fourth  Cavalry  ;  Gushing,  Taylor,  Bloom,  Jones,  Campbell, 
Cummins,  Crozier,  Frank  G.  Smith,  Harry  E.  Anderson, 
Greenough,  Howe,  French,  of  the  Fourth  Artillery  ;  Jordan, 
MacCaleb,  Devin,  Morris  C.  Foot,  Pease,  Baldwin,  Eockefeller, 
Jesse  M.  Lee,  Bowman,  of  the  Ninth  Infantry;  Vanderslice, 
Austin,  Krause,  Hasson,  Kimball,  of  the  Fourteenth  Infantry  ; 
Pollock,  Hay,  Claggett,  Edward  B.  Pratt,  Wheaton,  William  L. 
Clarke,  Hoffman,  Heyl,  of  the  Twenty- third  Infantry  ;  and  Sur 
geons  Gibson,  Price,  Wood,  Pettys,  Owsley,  and  La  Garde. 

Mackenzie's  column  numbered  twenty-eight  officers  and  seven 
hundred  and  ninety  men  ;  Dodge's,  thirty-three  officers  and 
six  hundred  and  forty-six  enlisted  men.  There  were  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty-five  Arapahoes,  Cheyennes,  and  Sioux  ;  ninety-one 
Shoshones,  fifteen  Bannocks,  one  hundred  Pawnees,  one  Ute, 
and  one  Nez  Perce,  attached  as  scouts  ;  and  four  interpreters. 

The  supplies  were  carried  on  four  hundred  pack-mules,  at 
tended  by  sixty-five  packers  under  men  of  such  experience  as 
Tom  Moore,  Dave  Mears,  Young  Delaney,  Patrick,  and  others ; 
one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  wagons  and  seven  ambulances — a 
very  imposing  cavalcade.  Major  Frank  North,  assisted  by  his 
brother,  Luke  North,  commanded  the  Pawnees  ;  they,  as  well  as 


THE  SCOUTING  FORCE.  391 

all  the  other  scouts,  rendered  service  of  the  first  value,  as  will  be 
seen  from  a  glance  at  these  pages.  General  Crook  had  succeeded 
in  planting  a  detachment  of  infantry  at  old  Fort  Reno,  which 
was  rebuilt  under  the  energetic  administration  of  Major  Pollock, 
of  the  Ninth,  and  had  something  in  the  way  of  supplies,  shelter, 
and  protection  to  offer  to  small  parties  of  couriers  or  scouts  who 
might  run  against  too  strong  a  force  of  the  enemy.  This  post, 
incomplete  as  it  was,  proved  of  prime  importance  before  the  win 
ter  work  was  over. 

We  noticed  one  thing  in  the  make-up  of  our  scouting  force : 
it  was  an  improvement  over  that  of  the  preceding  summer,  not 
in  bravery  or  energy,  but  in  complete  familiarity  with  the  plans 
and  designs  of  the  hostile  Sioux  and  Cheyennes  whom  we  were 
to  hunt  down.  Of  the  Cheyennes,  I  am  able  to  give  the  names 
of  "Thunder  Cloud,"  "  Bird,"  " Blown  Away/'  "  Old  Crow/' 
"  Fisher,"  and  "  Hard  Robe."  Among  the  Sioux  were,  in  addi 
tion  to  the  young  man,  "  Charging  Bear/'  who  had  been  taken 
prisoner  at  the  engagement  of  Slim  Buttes,  "  Three  Bears," 
"  Pretty  Voiced  Bull,"  "  Yellow  Shirt/'  "  Singing  Bear,"  "  Lone 
Feather,"  "Tall  Wild  Cat,"  "  Bad  Boy,"  ff  Bull,"  "Big  Horse," 
"  Black  Mouse,"  "  Broken  Leg/'  a  second  Indian  named  "  Charg 
ing  Bear,"  "Crow,"  "Charles  Richaud,"  "Eagle,"  "Eagle"  (2), 
"  Feather  On  The  Head,"  "  Fast  Thunder,"  "  Fasfc  Horse," 
"  Good  Man,"  "  Grey  Eyes,"  "  James  Twist,"  "  Kills  First," 
"Keeps  The  Battle,"  "Kills  In  The  Winter,"  "  Lone  Dog," 
"Owl  Bull,"  "Little  Warrior,"  "Leading  Warrior,"  "Little 
Bull,"  "No  Neck,"  "Poor  Elk,"  "Rocky  Bear,"  "Red  Bear," 
"Red  Willow,"  "Six  Feathers,"  "Sitting  Bear,"  "Scraper," 
"Swift  Charger,"  "  Shuts  The  Door,"  "  Slow  Bear,"  "Sorrel 
Horse,"  "  Swimmer,"  "  Tobacco,"  "  Knife,"  "Thunder  Shield," 
"  Horse  Comes  Last,"  "  White  Face,"  "  Walking  Bull,"  "Wait 
ing,"  "White  Elk,"  "Yellow  Bear,"  "Bad  Moccasin,"  "Bear 
Eagle,"  "Yankton,"  "Fox  Belly,"  "Running  Over,"  "Red 
Leaf" — representing  the  Ogallallas,  Brules,  Cut  Offs,  Loafers, 
ajid  Sans  Arcs  bands. 

The  Arapahoes  were  "Sharp  Nose,"  "Old  Eagle,"  "Six 
Feathers,"  "  Little  Fox,"  "  Shell  On  The  Neck,"  "  White  Horse," 
"  Wolf  Moccasin,"  "  Sleeping  Wolf,"  "  William  Friday,"  "  Red 
Beaver,"  "  Driving  Down  Hill,"  "  Yellow  Bull,"  "  Wild  Sage," 
"Eagle  Chief,"  "Sitting  Bull,"  "Short  Head,"  "Arrow  Quiv- 


392          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

er,"  "  Yellow  Owl/'  "  Strong  Bear/'  "  Spotted  Crow/'  "  White 
Bear/'  "Old  Man/'  " Painted  Man/'  "Left  Hand/'  "Long 
Hair/'  "Ground  Bear/'  "Walking  Water/' " Young  Chief," 
" Medicine  Man/'  "Bull  Robe/'  "Crying  Dog/'  "Flat  Foot," 
"Flint  Breaker/'  "Singing  Beaver/' "  Fat  Belly/'  "Crazy/' 
"  Blind  Man/'  "  Foot/'  "  Hungry  Man,"  "  Wrinkled  Forehead," 
"Fast  Wolf,"  "Big  Man,"  "White  Plume,"  "Coal,"  "Sleep 
ing  Bear,"  " Little  Owl,"  "  Butcher,"  "Broken  Horn,"  "Bear's 
Backbone,"  "Head  Warrior,"  "Big  Ridge,"  "Black  Man," 
"  Strong  Man,"  "  Whole  Robe/'  "  Bear  Wolf." 

The  above  will  surely  show  that  we  were  excellently  provided 
with  material  from  the  agencies,  which  was  the  main  point  to  be 
considered.  The  Pawnees  were  led  by  "  Li-here-is-oo-lishar " 
and  "  U-sanky-su-cola ; "  the  Bannocks  and  Shoshones  by 
"Tupsi-paw"  and  "0-ho-a-te."  The  chief  "  Washakie  "  was 
not  -with  them  this  time ;  he  sent  word  that  he  was  suffering 
from  rheumatism  and  did  not  like  to  run  the  risks  of  a  winter 
campaign,  but  had  sent  his  two  sons  and  a  nephew  and  would 
come  in  person  later  on  if  his  services  were  needed.  These 
guides  captured  a  Cheyenne  boy  and  brought  him  in  a  prisoner 
to  Crook,  who  learned  from  him  much  as  to  the  location  of  the 
hostile  villages. 

In  the  gray  twilight  of  a  cold  November  morning  (the  25th), 
Mackenzie  with  the  cavalry  and  Indian  scouts  burst  like  a  tor 
nado  upon  the  unsuspecting  village  of  the  Cheyennes  at  the  head 
of  Willow  Creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Powder,  and  wiped  it  from 
the  face  of  the  earth.  There  were  two  hundred  and  five  lodges, 
each  of  which  was  a  magazine  of  supplies  of  all  kinds — buffalo 
and  pony  meat,  valuable  robes,  ammunition,  saddles,  and  the 
comforts  of  civilization — in  very  appreciable  quantities.  The  roar 
of  the  flames  exasperated  the  fugitive  Cheyennes  to  frenzy  ;  they 
saw  their  homes,  disappearing  in  fire  and  smoke ;  they  heard  the 
dull  thump,  thump,  of  their  own  medicine  drum,  which  had 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  our  Shoshones ;  and  they  listened  to  the 
plaintive  drone  of  the  sacred  flageolets  upon  which  the  medicine 
men  of  the  Pawnees  were  playing  as  they  rode  at  the  head  of 
their  people.  Seven  hundred  and  five  ponies  fell  into  our  hands 
and  were  driven  off  the  field ;  as  many  more  were  killed  and 
wounded  or  slaughtered  by  the  Cheyennes  the  night  after  the 
battle,  partly  for  food  and  partly  to  let  their  half -naked  old  men 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  CHEYENNE  VILLAGE.  393 

and  women  put  their  feet  and  legs  in  the  warm  entrails.  We 
lost  one  officer,  Lieutenant  John  A.  McKinney,  Fourth  Cavalry, 
and  six  men  killed  and  twenty-five  men  wounded  ;  the  enemy's 
loss  was  unknown  ;  at  least  thirty  bodies  fell  into  our  hands,  and 
at  times  the  fighting  had  a  hand-to-hand  character,  especially 
where  Wirt  Davis  and  John  M.  Hamilton  were  engaged.  The 
village  was  secured  by  a  charge  on  our  left  in  which  the  compa 
nies  of  Taylor,  Hemphill,  Russell,  Wessells,  and  the  Pawnees  par 
ticipated.  The  Shoshones,  under  Lieutenant  Schuyler  and  Tom 
Cosgrove,  seized  a  commanding  peak  and  rained  down  bullets 
upon  the  brave  Cheyennes,  who,  after  putting  their  women  and 
children  in  the  best  places  of  safety  accessible,  held  on  to  the 
rocks,  and  could  not  be  dislodged  without  great  loss  of  life. 

Mackenzie  sent  couriers  to  Crook,  asking  him  to  come  to  his 
help  as  soon  as  he  could  with  the  long  rifles  of  the  infantry,  to 
drive  the  enemy  from  their  natural  fortifications.  Crook  and  the 
foot  troops  under  Dodge,  Towusend,  and  Campbell  made  the 
wonderful  march  of  twenty-six  miles  over  the  frozen,  slippery 
ground  in  twelve  hours,  much  of  the  distance  by  night.  But 
they  did  not  reach  us  in  time,  as  the  excessive  cold  had  forced 
the  Cheyennes  to  withdraw  from  our  immediate  front,  eleven  of 
their  little  babies  having  frozen  to  death  in  their  mothers'  arms 
the  first  night  and  three  others  the  second  night  after  the  fight. 

The  Cheyennes  were  spoken  to  by  Bill  Roland  and  Frank  Gru- 
ard,  but  were  very  sullen  and  not  inclined  to  talk  much ;  it  was 
learned  that  we  had  struck  the  village  of  "Dull  Knife,"  who  had 
with  him  <?  Little  Wolf,"  "Roman  Nose,"  "Gray  Head,"  "Old 
Bear,"  "Standing  Elk,"  and  "Turkey  Legs."  "Dull  Knife" 
called  out  to  our  Sioux  and  Cheyenne  scouts  :  "  Go  home — you 
have  no  business  here  ;  we  can  whip  the  white  soldiers  alone,  but 
can't  fight  you  too."  The  other  Cheyennes  called  out  that  they 
were  going  over  to  a  big  Sioux  village,  which  they  asserted  to  be 
near  by,  and  get  its  assistance,  and  then  come  back  and  clean  us 
out.  "  You  have  killed  and  hurt  a  heap  of  our  people,"  they  said, 
"and  you  may  as  well  stay  now  and  kill  the  rest  of  us."  The 
Custer  massacre  was  represented  by  a  perfect  array  of  mute  testi 
mony  :  gauntlets,  hats,  and  articles  of  clothing  marked  with  the 
names  of  officers  and  men  of  the  ill-fated  Seventh  Cavalry,  sad 
dles,  silk  guidons,  and  other  paraphernalia  pointing  the  one 
moral,  that  the  Cheyennes  had  been  as  foremost  in  the  battle 


394          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

with  Ouster  as  they  had  been  in  the  battle  with  Crook  on  the 
Rosebud  a  week  earlier. 

All  the  tribes  of  the  plains  looked  up  to  the  Oheyennes,  and 
respected  their  impetuous  valor  ;  none  stood  higher  than  they  as 
fierce,  skilful  fighters  ;  and  to  think  that  we  had  broken  the  back 
of  their  hostility  and  rendered  them  impotent  was  a  source  of  no 
small  gratification.  They  sent  a  party  of  young  men  to  follow 
our  trail  and  see  whither  we  went ;  these  young  men  crawled  up 
close  to  our  camp-fires  and  satisfied  themselves  that  some  of  their 
own  people  were  really  enlisted  to  fight  our  battles,  as  Ben  Roland 
had  assured  them  was  the  case.  This  disconcerted  them  beyond 
measure,  added  to  what  they  could  see  of  our  column  of  scouts 
from  the  other  tribes.  "  Dull  Knife  "  made  his  way  down  the 
Powder  to  where  " Crazy  Horse"  was  in  camp,  expecting  to  be 
received  with  the  hospitality  to  which  his  present  destitution  and 
past  services  entitled  him.  "Crazy  Horse "  was  indifferent  to 
the  sufferings  of  his  allies  and  turned  the  cold  shoulder  upon 
them  completely,  and  this  so  aroused  their  indignation  that  they 
decided  to  follow  the  example  of  those  who  had  enrolled  under 
our  flag  and  sent  in  word  to  that  effect. 

At  first  it  was  not  easy  to  credit  the  story  that  the  Cheyennes 
were  not  only  going  to  surrender,  but  that  every  last  man  of  them 
would  enlist  as  a  soldier  to  go  out  and  demolish  "  Crazy  Horse  ; " 
but  the  news  was  perfectly  true,  and  in  the  last  days  of  Decem 
ber  and  the  first  of  January  the  first  detachment  of  them  arrived 
at  Red  Cloud  Agency;  just  as  fast  as  the  condition  of  their 
ponies  and  wounded  would  admit,  another  detachment  arrived  ; 
and  then  the  whole  body — men,  women,  and  children — made  their 
appearance,  and  announced  their  desire  and  intention  to  help  us 
whip  "Crazy  Horse/7  "Crazy  Horse "  happened  to  be  related 
by  blood  or  by  marriage  to  both  "  Spotted  Tail  "  and  "  Red 
Cloud/'  and  each  of  these  big  chiefs  exerted  himself  to  save  him. 
"  Spotted  Tail"  sounded  the  Cheyennes  and  found  that  they  were 
in  earnest  in  the  expressed  purpose  of  aiding  the  Americans ;  and 
when  he  counted  upon  his  fingers  the  hundreds  of  allies  who  were 
coming  in  to  the  aid  of  the  whites  in  the  suppression,  perhaps  the 
extermination,  of  the  Dakotas,  who  had  so  long  lorded  it  over  the 
population  of  the  Missouri  Valley,  he  saw  that  it  was  the  part  of 
prudence  for  all  his  people  to  submit  to  the  authority  of  the  Gen 
eral  Government  and  trust  to  its  promises. 


INDIAN  ALLIES.  395 

Colonel  Mason  was  not  only  a  good  soldier,  he  was  a  man  of 
most  excellent  education,  broad  views  and  humane  impulses  ;  he 
had  gained  a  great  influence  over ." Spotted  Tail,"  which  he  used 
to  the  best  advantage.  He  explained  to  his  red-skinned  friends 
that  the  force  soon  to  be  put  in  the  field  would  embrace  hundreds 
of  the  Sioux  at  the  agencies,  who  were  desirous  of  providing 
themselves  with  ponies  from  the  herds  of  their  relations,  the  Min- 
neconjous ;  that  every  warrior  of  the  Cheyennes  had  declared  his 
intention  of  enlisting  to  fight  "  Crazy  Horse";  that  there  would 
be,  if  needed,  two  hundred  and  fifty  men,  or  even  more,  from  the 
Utes,  Bannocks,  and  Shoshones  ;  that  over  one  hundred  Pawnees 
were  determined  to  accompany  any  expedition  setting  out ;  that 
one  hundred  Winnebagoes  had  offered  their  services ;  that  all 
the  able-bodied  Arapahoes  were  enrolled,  and  that  the  Crows  had 
sent  word  that  two  hundred  of  their  best  warriors  would  take 
part.  In  the  early  part  of  the  winter  the  Crows  had  sent  two 
hundred  and  fifty  of  their  warriors  under  Major  George  M. 
Eandall  and  the  interpreter,  Fox,  to  find  and  join  Crook's  ex 
pedition.  After  being  subjected  to  indescribable  privations  and 
almost  frozen  to  death  in  a  fierce  wind  and  snow  storm  upon  the 
summits  of  the  Big  Horn  range — from  the  fury  of  which 
Kandall  and  his  companions  were  saved  by  the  accident  of  dis 
covering  a  herd  of  buffaloes  hiding  from  the  blast  in  a  little  sag, 
which  animals  they  attacked,  killing  a  number  and  eating  the 
flesh  raw,  as  no  fire  could  live  in  such  a  blast,  and  putting  their 
feet  inside  the  carcasses  to  keep  from  freezing  stiff — the  brave 
detachment  of  Crows  succeeded  in  uniting  with  us  on  Christmas 
morning,  1876,  in  one  of  the  most  disagreeable  blizzards  of 
that  trip. 

Their  number  had  been  reduced  below  one  hundred,  but  they 
were  still  able  to  aid  us  greatly,  had  not  Crook  deemed  it  best 
for  them  to  return  home  and  apprise  their  tribe  of  the  complete 
downfall  of  the  Cheyennes  and  the  breaking  of  the  backbone  of 
hostility.  There  might  be  other  fights  and  skirmishes  in  the 
future,  but  organized  antagonism  to  the  whites  was  shattered 
when  the  Cheyenne  camp  was  laid  low.  and  future  military  opera 
tions  would  be  minimized  into  the  pursuit  of  straggling  detach 
ments  or  conflicts  with  desperate  bands  which  had  no  hope  of 
success,  but  would  wish  to  sell  their  lives  at  the  highest  rate  possi 
ble.  The  best  thing  for  the  Crows  and  Utes  and  Shoshones  to  do 


396          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

would  be  to  move  into,  or  at  least  close  to,  the  Big  Horn  Moun 
tains,  and  from  there  raid  upon  the  petty  villages  of  the  Sioux 
who  might  try  to  live  in  the  seclusion  of  the  rocks  and  forests. 
"  Spotted  Tail  "  said  that  "  Crazy  Horse  "  was  his  nephew,  and 
he  thought  he  could  make  him  see  the  absolute  inutility  of 
further  resistance,  by  going  out  to  have  a  talk  with  him. 

Mason  telegraphed  all  the  foregoing  facts  to  General  Crook, 
who  had  been  summoned  to  Cheyenne  as  a  witness  before  a  gen 
eral  court-martial  ;  Crook  replied  that  there  was  no  objection  to 
the  proposed  mission,  but  that  "  Spotted  Tail"  must  let  " Crazy 
Horse  "  understand  that  he  was  not  sent  out  with  any  overtures, 
and  that  all  "  Crazy  Horse"  could  count  upon  was  safety  in  his 
passage  across  the  country,  by  setting  out  at  once  before  another 
movement  should  begin.  "  Spotted  Tail "  found  "  Crazy  Horse  " 
encamped  near  the  head  of  the  Little  Powder,  about  midway 
between  Cantonment  Eeno  and  the  southwestern  corner  of  the 
Black  Hills.  He  made  known  his  errand,  and  had  no  great  diffi 
culty  in  making  his  nephew  see  that  he  had  better  begin  his  move 
ment  towards  the  agency  without  a  moment's  delay.  Several  of 
" Crazy  Horse's"  young  men  came  in  with  "Spotted  Tail,"  who 
was  back  at  Camp  Robinson  by  the  last  week  in  January,  1877. 
General  Crook's  headquarters  had  been  transferred  to  that  point, 
and  there  was  little  to  do  beyond  waiting  for  the  arrival  of 
' '  Crazy  Horse  "  and  other  chiefs. 

Of  our  mess  and  its  members,  as  well  as  the  people  who  dined 
or  supped  with  us,  I  am  sure  that  my  readers  will  pardon  me  for 
saying  a  word. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

STRANGE  MESS-MATES — THE  JOURNEY  TO  THE  AGENCIES — GEN 
ERAL  SHERIDAN'S  VISIT — "  SPOTTED  TAIL  " — THE  STORY  OF 
HIS  DEAD  DAUGHTER'S  BONES — "  WHITE  THUNDER" — "RED 
CLOUD" — "DULL  KNIFE" — "BIG  WOLF" — THE  NECKLACE 

OF  HUMAN  FINGERS— THE  MEDICINE  MAN  AND  THE  ELEC 
TRIC  BATTERY — "  WASHINGTON  "— "  FRIDAY  "  -INDIAN 
BROTHERS — "  SORREL  HORSE  " — "  THREE  BEARS  " — "  YOUNG 
MAN  AFRAID  OF  HIS  HORSES  " — "ROCKY  BEAR" — "RED 
CLOUD'S"  LETTER — INDIAN  DANCES — THE  BAD  LANDS — 
HOW  THE  CHEYENNES  FIRST  GOT  HORSES. 


ROBINSON  was  situated  in  the  extreme  northwestern 
corner  of  the  State  of  Nebraska,  close  to  the  line  of  Dakota 
and  that  of  Wyoming ;  aside  from  being  the  focus  of  military 
activity,  there  was  little  in  the  way  of  attraction  ;  the  scenery  in 
the  vicinity  is  picturesque,  without  any  special  features.  There 
were  great  numbers  of  Indians  of  the  Sioux,  Cheyenne,  and 
Arapahoe  tribes,  to  whose  ranks  accessions  were  made  daily  by 
those  surrendering,  but  reference  to  them  will  be  postponed  for 
the  present.  The  white  members  of  our  mess  were  General 
Crook,  General  Mackenzie,  Colonel  J.  W.  Mason,  Lieutenant 
William  P.  Clarke,  Lieutenant  Hayden  Delaney,  Lieutenant 
Walter  S.  Schuyler,  Major  George  M.  Randall,  and  myself. 
Neither  Mackenzie  nor  Mason  could,  strictly  speaking,  be  called 
a  member  of  the  mess,  but  as  they  generally  "dropped  in,"  and 
as  a  plate  was  regularly  placed  for  each,  there  is  no  direct  viola 
tion  of  the  unities  in  including  them.  Randall  was  still  full  of 
his  recent  perilous  adventure  with  the  Crows,  and  we  often  were 
successful  in  drawing  him  out  about  his  experiences  in  the  Civil 
War,  in  which  he  had  borne  a  most  gallant  part  and  of  which 
he  could,  when  disposed,  relate  many  interesting  episodes.  Schuy 
ler  had  made  a  tour  through  Russia  and  Finland,  and  observed 
not  a  little  of  the  usages  and  peculiarities  of  the  people  of  those 


398  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

countries.  Mr.  Strahorn,  who  was  often  with  us,  had  wandered 
about  in  many  curious  spots  of  our  own  territory,  and  was  brim 
ful  of  anecdote  of  quaint  types  of  human  nature  encountered 
far  away  from  the  centres  of  civilization.  Crook  and  Mackenzie 
and  Mason  would  sometimes  indulge  in  reminiscences  to  which 
all  eagerly  listened,  and  it  is  easy  to  see  that  such  a  mess  would 
of  itself  have  been  a  place  of  no  ordinary  interest  ;  but  for  me 
the  greatest  attraction  was  to  be  found  in  the  constant  presence 
of  distinguished  Indian  chiefs  whose  names  had  become  part  and 
parcel  of  the  history  of  our  border.  General  Sheridan  had  paid 
one  hurried  visit  and  remained  a  day,  but  being  better  known  to 
American  readers,  there  is  no  use  in  speaking  of  him  and  his 
work  during  the  war. 

There  were  two  cooks,  Phillips  and  Bos  well,  the  former  of 
whom  had  shared  the  trials  and  tribulations  of  the  terrible 
march  down  from  the  head  of  Heart  River,  and  seemed  resolved 
to  make  hay  while  the  sun  shone  ;  he  could  make  anything  but 
pie — in  that  he  failed  miserably.  I  think  it  was  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes  who  once  wrote  an  essay  to  demonstrate  that  the  isother 
mal  line  of  perpetual  pumpkin  pie  was  the  line  of  highest  civiliza 
tion  and  culture.  The  converse  of  the  proposition  would  seem 
to  be  equally  true :  pie,  of  any  kind,  cannot  be  made  except 
under  the  most  aesthetic  surroundings ;  amid  the  chilling  re 
straints  of  savagery  and  barbarism,  pie  is  simply  an  impossibility. 
It  did  not  make  much  difference  what  he  prepared,  Boswell  was 
sure  of  an  appreciative  discussion  of  its  merits  by  a  mess  which 
was  always  hungry,  and  which  always  had  guests  who  were  still 
hungrier  and  still  more  appreciative. 

Taking  our  aboriginal  guests  in  order  of  rank,  the  chief,  of 
course,  was  "  Spotted  Tail."  This  is,  unfortunately,  not  the 
age  of  monument-building  in  America ;  if  ever  the  dav  shall 
come  when  loyal  and  intelligent  friendship  for  the  American 
people  shall  receive  due  recognition,  the  strong,  melancholy 
features  of  "  Sintiega-leska,"  or  "  Spotted  Tail/'  cast  in  endur 
ing  bronze,  will  overlook  the  broad  area  of  Dakota  and  Nebraska, 
which  his  genius  did  so  much  to  save  to  civilization.  In  youth 
a  warrior  of  distinction,  in  middle  age  a  leader  among  his  peo 
ple,  he  became,  ere  time  had  sprinkled  his  locks  with  snow,  the 
benefactor  of  two  races.  A  diplomatist  able  to  hold  his  own 
with  the  astutest  agents  the  Great  Father  could  depute  to  confer 


"SPOTTED  TAIL."  399 

with  him,  "  Spotted  Tail "  recognized  the  inevitable  destruction 
of  his  kinsmen  if  they  persisted  in  war  and  turned  their  backs 
upon  overtures  of  peace.  He  exerted  himself,  and  generally  with 
success,  to  obtain  the  best  terms  possible  from  the  Government 
in  all  conferences  held  with  its  representatives,  but  he  was 
equally  earnest  in  his  determination  to  restrain  the  members  of 
his  own  band,  and  all  others  whom  he  could  control,  from  going 
out  upon  the  war-path.  If  any  persisted  in  going,  they  went  to 
stay  ;  he  would  not  allow  them  to  return. 

There  was  a  story  current  in  army  circles  that  years  and  years 
ago  a  young  daughter  of  "  Spotted  Tail  "  had  fallen  in  love  with 
an  officer  just  out  of  West  Point,  and  had  died  of  a  broken 
heart.  In  her  last  hours  she  asked  of  her  father  the  pledge  that 
he  would  always  remain  the  friend  of  the  Americans— a  pledge 
given  with  affectionate  earnestness,  and  observed  with  all  the 
fidelity  of  a  noble  nature.  I  have  often  seen  the  grave  of  this 
young  maiden  at  Fort  Laramie — a  long  pine  box,  resting  high 
in  air  upon  a  scaffold  adorned  with  the  tails  of  the  ponies  upon 
which  her  gentle  soul  had  made  the  lonesome  journey  to  the 
Land  of  the  Great  Hereafter.  I  may  as  well  tell  here  a  romance 
about  her  poor  bones,  which  insatiate  Science  did  not  permit  to 
rest  in  peace.  Long  after  her  obsequies,  when  "  Spotted  Tail's  " 
people  had  been  moved  eastward  to  the  White  Earth  country, 
and  while  the  conflict  with  the  hostiles  was  at  its  bitterest,  the 
garrison  of  Fort  Laramie  was  sent  into  the  field,  new  troops  tak 
ing  their  places.  There  was  a  new  commanding  officer,  a  new 
surgeon,  and  a  new  hospital  steward ;  the  last  was  young, 
bright,  ambitious,  and  desirous  of  becoming  an  expert  in  anat 
omy.  The  Devil  saw  his  opportunity  for  doing  mischief;  he 
whispered  in  the  young  man's  ear  :  "If  you  want  an  articulated 
skeleton,  what's  the  matter  with  those  bones  ?  Make  your  own 
articulated  skeleton."  Turn  where  he  would,  the  Devil  followed 
him;  the  word  "  bones"  sounded  constantly  in  his  ears,  and, 
close  his  eyes  or  open  them,  there  stood  the  scaffold  upon  which, 
wrapped  in  costly  painted  buffalo  robes  and  all  the  gorgeous 
decoration  of  bead-work,  porcupine  quill,  and  wampum  that  sav 
age  affection  could  supply,  reposed  the  mortal  remains  of  the 
Dakota  maiden.  ...  A  dark  night,  a  ladder,  a  rope,  and  a 
bag — the  bones  were  lying  upon  '  the  steward's  table,  cleaned, 
polished,  and  almost  adjusted,  and  if  there  was  one  happy  man 


400          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

in  the  United  States  Army  it  was  the  hospital  steward  of  Fort 
Laramie. 

How  fleeting  is  all  human  joy  !  A  little  cloud  of  dust  arose 
above  the  hills  to  the  northeast;  in  the  direction  of  the  Raw-Hide  ; 
it  grew  bigger  and  bigger  and  never  ceased  until,  in  front  of  the 
commanding  officer's  quarters,  it  revealed  the  figures  of  "  Spotted 
Tail,"  the  head  chief  of  the  Sioux,  and  a  dozen  of  his  warriors. 
The  great  chief  had  come,  he  said,  for  the  bones  of  his  child  ; 
he  was  getting  old,  and  his  heart  felt  cold  when  it  turned  to  the 
loved  one  who  slept  so  far  from  the  graves  of  her  people.  The 
way  was  long,  but  his  ponies  were  fresh,  and  to  help  out  the  ride 
of  the  morrow  he  would  start  back  with  the  rising  of  the  moon 
that  night.  Consternation  !  Panic  !  Dismay  !  Use  any  term 
you  please  to  describe  the  sensation  when  the  steward  confessed 
to  the  surgeon,  and  the  surgeon  to  the  commanding  officer,  the 
perilous  predicament  in  which  they  were  placed.  The  command 
ing  officer  was  polite  and  diplomatic.  He  urged  upon  "  Spotted 
Tail  "  that  the  requirements  of  hospitality  could  not  permit  of 
his  withdrawal  until  the  next  day  ;  neither  was  it  proper  that 
the  bones  of  the  daughter  of  so  distinguished  a  chief  should  be 
carried  off  in  a  bundle  uncoffined.  He  would  have  a  coffin  made, 
and  when  that  should  be  ready  the  remains  could  be  placed  in 
it  without  a  moment's  delay  or  a  particle  of  trouble.  Once  again, 
a  ladder,  a  rope,  and  the  silence  of  night — and  the  secret  of  the 
robbery  was  secure.  When  the  story  reached  our  camp  on  Goose 
Creek,  Terry's  Crow  Indian  messengers  were  relating  to  Crook 
the  incidents  of  the  Custer  massacre. 

I  thought  then  with  horror,  and  I  still  think,  what  might  have 
been  the  consequences  had  "  Spotted  Tail "  discovered  the  ab 
straction  of  those  bones  ?  Neither  North  nor  South  Dakota, 
Wyoming  nor  Montana  might  now  be  on  the  map,  and  their 
senators  might  not  be  known  in  Congress  ;  and,  perhaps,  those 
who  so  ably  represent  the  nourishing  States  of  Kansas,  Nebraska 
and  Colorado  might  have  some  difficulty  in  finding  all  of  their 
constituents.  The  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  might  not  yet  have 
been  built,  and  thousands  who  to-day  own  happy  homes  on  fertile 
plains  would  still  be  toiling  aimlessly  and  hopelessly  in  the  over- 
populated  States  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 

We  found  "  Spotted  Tail "  a  man  of  great  dignity,  but  at  all 
moments  easy  and  affable  in  manner ;  not  hard  to  please,  sharp 


INDIAN  CHIEFS   AS  GUESTS  OF   THE  MESS.  401 

as  a  brier,  and  extremely  witty.  He  understood  enough  English 
to  get  along  at  table,  and  we  picked  up  enough  Dakota  to  know 
that  when  he  asked  for  "  ahuyape,"  he  meant  bread  ;  "  wosunna" 
was  butter  ;  "  waka-maza,"  corn  ;  that  "  bello  "  was  the  name  for 
potatoes,  "tol!6"  for  beef,  "  pazuta-sapa "  for  coffee,  "witkd" 
for  eggs  ;  that  white  sugar  became  in  his  vocabulary  "  chahumpi- 
ska,"  salt  was  transformed  into  "  minni-squia " ;  and  that  our 
mushrooms  and  black  pepper  resolved  themselves  into  the  jaw- 
breaking  words  :  "  yamanuminnigawpi "  and  "  numcatchy-num- 
capa,"  respectively.  He  was  addicted  to  one  habit,  not  strictly 
according  to  our  canons,  of  which  we  never  succeeded  in  break 
ing  him  :  if  he  didn't  like  a  piece  of  meat,  or  if  he  had  been 
served  with  a  greater  abundance  than  he  needed  of  anything,  he 
lifted  what  he  didn't  want  back  upon  the  platter.  His  conversa 
tional  powers  were  of  a  high  order,  his  views  carefully  formed, 
•clearly  expressed.  My  personal  relations  with  him  were  ex 
tremely  friendly,  and  I  feel  free  to  say  that  "Spotted  Tail"  was 
one  of  the  great  men  of  this  country,  bar  none,  red,  white,  black, 
or  yellow.  When  "Crow  Dog"  murdered  him,  the  Dakota 
nation  had  good  reason  to  mourn  the  loss  of  a  noble  son. 

"Spotted  Tail"  was  several  times  accompanied  by  "White 
Thunder,"  a  handsome  chief,  most  favorably  disposed  towards 
the  whites,  and  of  good  mental  calibre,  but  in  no  sense  "  Spotted 
Tail's  "  equal.  On  other  occasions  we  had  both  "  Spotted  Tail " 
and  ' '  Red  Cloud  "  at  dinner  or  lunch  on  the  same  day.  This 
we  tried  to  avoid  as  much  as  possible,  as  they  were  unfriendly  to 
each  other,  and  were  not  even  on  speaking  terms.  However,  at 
our  table,  they  always  behaved  in  a  gentlemanly  manner,  and  no 
stranger  would  have  suspected  that  anything  was  wrong.  "Red 
Cloud "  had  shown  a  better  disposition  since  the  coming  in  of 
the  Cheyennes,  their  avowed  intentions  having  as  much  of  an 
effect  upon  him  as  upon  "Spotted  Tail."  The  delegation  of 
Ogallalla  warriors  had  done  such  good  work  during  the  campaign 
that  General  Crook  had  allowed  the  members  of  the  other  bands 
to  give  to  the  more  deserving  some  of  the  ponies  taken  away 
from  them  and  distributed  among  the  other  divisions  of  the 
Sioux.  This  developed  a  much  better  feeling  all  around,  and 
" Red  Cloud"  had  asked  to  be  enlisted  as  a  soldier,  to  show  that 
lie  meant  well. 

He  had  also  said  that  "  Crazy  Horse  "  could  not  travel  in  as 
26 


402          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

fast  as  General  Crook  expected,  partly  on  account  of  the  soft 
state  of  the  trails  induced  by  a  heavy  January  thaw,  and  partly 
because  it  would  be  necessary  for  him  to  hunt  in  order  to  get 
food  for  his  women  and  children.  If  he,  "Ked  Cloud,"  were 
permitted  to  take  out  enough  food  to  support  the  women  and 
children  on  their  way  to  the  agency,  it  would  deprive  "Crazy 
Horse  "  of  any  excuse  for  delay,  granting  that  he  was  disposed  to 
be  dilatory  in  his  progress ;  he  would  go  out  to  see  the  band  of 
"  Crazy  Horse/'  and  tell  them  all  to  come  in  at  once,  and  give  to 
all  the  women  and  children  who  needed  it  the  food  for  their  sup 
port  while  coming  down  from  the  Black  Hills.  This  proposition 
was  approved,  and  "Red  Cloud "  started  out  and  did  good  work, 
to  which  I  will  allude  later  on. 

One  day  when  the  Cheyenne  chief,  "Dull  Knife/'  was  at 
headquarters,  I  invited  him  to  stay  for  luncheon. 

"I  should  be  glad  to  do  so,"  he  replied,  "but  my  daughters 
are  with  me." 

"Bring  them  in  too,"  was  the  reply  from  others  of  the  mess, 
and  "  Spotted  Tail,"  who  was  present,  seconded  our  solicita 
tions  ;  so  we  had  the  pleasure  of  the  company,  not  only  of  old 
"Dull  Knife,"  whose  life  had  been  one  of  such  bitterness  and 
sorrow,  but  of  his  three  daughters  as  well.  They  were  fairly 
good-looking — the  Cheyennes  will  compare  favorably  in  appear 
ance  with  any  people  I've  seen — and  were  quite  young ;  one  of 
nine  or  ten,  one  of  twelve,  and  the  oldest  not  yet  twenty — a 
young  widow  who,  with  the  coquettishness  of  the  sex,  wore  her 
skirts  no  lower  than  the  knees  to  let  the  world  see  that  in  her 
grief  for  her  husband,  killed  in  our  fight  of  November  25th,  she 
had  gashed  and  cut  her  limbs  in  accordance  with  the  severest 
requirements  of  Cheyenne  etiquette.  Had  she  lost  a  child  she 
would  have  cut  off  one  of  the  joints  of  the  little  finger  of  her 
left  hand. 

Of  the  other  Cheyennes,  there  were  "  Little  Wolf,"  one  of  the 
bravest  in  fights,  where  all  were  brave ;  and  "  Standing  Elk," 
cool  and  determined  in  action,  wise  in  council,  polite  in  de 
meanor,  reserved  in  speech,  and  adhering  in  dress  to  the  porcelain 
bead  breastplates  of  the  tribes  of  the  plains.  Last  among  this 
deputation  was  the  medicine  man,  "High  Wolf,"  or  "Tall 
Wolf,"  or  "Big  Wolf"  ;  he  had  been  proud  to  wear,  as  his  pet 
decoration,  a  necklace  of  human  fingers,  which  he  knew  had 


GHASTLY  TROPHIES.  403 

fallen  into  my  possession  in  the  fight  with  Mackenzie.  There 
was  no  affection  lost  between  us,  but  he  imagined  that  by  getting 
upon  good  terms  with  me  negotiations  might  be  opened  for  a 
return  of  the  ghastly  relic.  But  I  knew  its  value  too  well : 
there  is  no  other  in  the  world  that  I  know  of — that  is,  in  any 
museum — although  the  accounts  of  explorations  in  the  early  days 
in  the  South  Sea,  among  the  Andamanese,  and  by  Lewis  and 
Clark,,  make  mention  of  such  things  having  been  seen.  While  we 
were  destroying  the  Cheyenne  village,  ' '  Big  Bat "  found  two  of 
these  necklaces,  together  with  a  buckskin  bag  containing  twelve 
of  the  right  hands  of  little  babies  of  the  Shoshone  tribe,  lately 
killed  by  the  Cheyennes.  The  extra  necklace  was  buried,  the 
buckskin  bag  with  its  dreadful  relics  was  given  to  our  Shoshone 
allies,  who  wept  and  wailed  over  it  all  night,  refusing  to  be  com 
forted,  and  neglecting  to  assume  the  battle-names  with  which 
the  Pawnees  were  signalizing  their  prowess.  The  necklace  be 
longing  to  "High  Wolf"  contained  eight  fingers  of  Indian  ene 
mies  slain  by  that  ornament  of  society,  and  has  since  been  de 
posited  in  the  National  Museum,  Washington,  D.  C. 

There  was  an  old,  broken-down  electrical  apparatus  in  the 
post  hospital,  which  had  long  ago  been  condemned  as  unservice 
able,  but  which  we  managed  to  repair  so  that  it  would  send  a 
pretty  severe  shock  through  the  person  holding  the  poles.  The 
Indian  boys  and  girls  looked  upon  this  as  wonderful  <e  medicine, " 
and  hung  in  groups  about  the  headquarters,  from  reveille  till 
retreat,  hoping  to  see  the  machine  at  work — not  at  work  upon 
themselves  exactly,  but  upon  some  "  fresh  fish  "  which  they  had 
enticed  there  from  among  the  later  surrenders.  Many  and  many 
a  time,  generally  about  the  lunch  hour,  a  semicircle  would  form 
outside  the  door,  waiting  for  the  appearance  of  some  one  con 
nected  with  the  headquarters,  who  would  be  promptly  nudged  by 
one  of  the  more  experienced  boys,  as  a  sign  that  there  was  fun 
in  sight.  The  novice  couldn't  exactly  comprehend  what  it  all 
meant  when  he  saw  at  the  bottom  of  a  pail  of  water  a  shining 
half-dollar  which  was  to  be  his  if  he  could  only  reach  it  while 
holding  that  innocent-looking  cylinder  in  one  hand.  There  was 
any  amount  of  diversion  for  everybody ;  the  crop  of  shorn  lambs 
increased  rapidly,  each  boy  thinking  that  the  recollection  of  his 
own  sorrows  could  be  effaced  in  no  better  way  than  by  contem 
plating  those  of  the  newer  arrivals  ;  and  so  from  guard  mount  to 


404         ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

parade  the  wonder  grew  as  to  what  was  the  mysterious  machine 
which  kept  people  from  seizing  the  piece  of  silver. 

We  were  becoming  more  generous,  or  more  confident,  by  this 
time,  and  doubled  the  value  of  the  money  prize,  and  issued  a 
challenge  to  the  " medicine  men"  to  try  their  powers.  Several 
of  them  did  so,  only  to  be  baffled  and  disgraced.  No  matter 
what  "medicine  "  they  made  use  of,  no  matter  what  "  medicine 
song"  they  chanted,  our  "medicine  song"  was  more  potent: 
never  were  the  strains  of  "  Pat  Malloy"  warbled  to  a  nobler  pur 
pose,  and  ere  long  it  began  to  be  bruited  about  from  "  tepi "  to 
« tepi  "—from  "  Sharp  Nose's  "  hearth-fire  to  "  White  Thunder's/' 
and  farther  down  the  vale  to  where  the  blue  smoke  from  "  Little 
Wolfs"  cottonwood  logs  curled  lazily  skyward — that  "  Wichak- 
pa-yamani"("  Three  Stars,"  the  Sioux  name  for  General  Crook) 
had  a  "Mini-hoa"  (Ink  Man-Adjutant  General)  whose  "medi 
cine  song ''would  nullify  anything  that  Cheyenne  or  Arapahoe 
or  Dakota  could  invent ;  and  naturally  enough,  this  brought 
"High  Wolf,"  the  great  doctor  of  the  Cheyennes,  to  the  fore. 
The  squaws  nagged  him  into  accepting  the  gauntlet  thrown  down 
so  boldly.  Excitement  ran  high  when  word  was  passed  around 
that  "High  Wolf"  was. going  to  test  the  power  of  the  battery. 
There  was  a  most  liberal  attendance  of  spectators,  and  both 
whites  and  reds  knew  that  the  ordeal  was  to  be  one  of  exceptional 
importance.  "  High  Wolf  "  had  with  him  a  good  deal  of  "  medi 
cine,"  but  he  asked  a  few  moments'  delay,  as  he  had  to  make  some 
more.  I  watched  him  closely  to  guard  against  trickery,  but 
detected  nothing  to  cause  me  any  apprehension  :  he  plucked  one 
or  two  lengths  of  grass  just  peeping  above  the  ground,  rolled 
them  in  the  palms  of  his  hands,  and  then  put  them  into  his 
mouth,  wherein  he  had  previously  placed  a  small  stone,  glanced 
up' at  the  sun,  and  then  at  the  cardinal  points,  all  the  while  hum 
ming,  half  distinctly,  his  "medicine  song,"  in  which  two  sympa 
thizing  friends  were  joining,  and  then  was  ready  for  the  fray. 

I  was  not  asleep  by  any  means,  but  putting  in  all  the  muscle  I 
could  command  in  revolving  the  handle  of  the  battery,  and  so 
fully  absorbed  in  my  work,  that  I  almost  forgot  to  summon  "Pat 
Malloy"  to  my  aid.  "High  Wolf"  took  one  of  the  poles,  and  of 
course  felt  no  shock  ;  he  looked  first  at  the  glittering  dollar  in 
the  bottom  of  the  bucket,  and  next  at  the  extra  prize — five  dol 
lars,  if  I  remember  correctly — contributed  by  the  officers  stand- 


"HIGH   WOLF"  AND  THE  ELECTRICAL  BATTERY.       405 

ing  by  ;  and  in  another  second  his  brawny  left  arm  was  plunged 
up  to  the  elbow  in  the  crystal  fluid.  Not  being  an  adept  in  such 
matters,  I  am  not  prepared  to  say  exactly  how  many  hundred 
thousand  volts  he  got  in  the  back  of  the  neck,  but  he  certainly 
had  a  more  thorough  experience  with  electricity  than  any  abori 
gine,  living  or  dead,  and,  worst  of  all,  he  couldn^t  let  go.  He 
was  strong  as  a  mule  and  kicked  like  a  Texas  congressman, 
smashing  the  poor,  rickety  battery  all  to  pieces,  which  was  a  sad 
loss  to  us.  He  was  neither  conquered  nor  humiliated,  and  boldly 
announced  his  readiness  to  repeat  the  trial,  a  proposal  we  could 
not  in  honor  decline.  The  battery  was  patched  up  as  well  as  we 
knew  how,  and  we  allowed  him  to  try  again  ;"  this  time,  as  the 
crafty  rascal  knew  would  be  the  case,  the  wheezy  machine  fur 
nished  no  great  current,  and  he  fished  out  the  dollar,  although 
moisture  gathered  in  beads  around  his  neck,  and  his  fingers 
were  doubled  upon  his  wrists.  He  got  the  rest  of  the  money, 
according  to  promise,  and  the  decision  of  the  onlookers  was  that 
the  whole  business  must  be  adjudged  a  "draw."  "High  Wolf" 
was  a  powerful  "medicine  man"  as  of  yore,  and  he  alone  of  all 
the  Indians  at  Red  Cloud  could  compete  with  the  white  man's 
"  medicine  box  "  whose  wheels  went  whir-r-r-whir-r-r-r. 

The  Arapahoes  were  well  represented.  Their  principal  men 
were  of  fine  mental  calibre,  and  in  all  that  galaxy  of  gallant 
soldiers,  white  and  copper-colored,  whom  I  met  during  those 
years,  none  stands  out  more  clearly  in  my  recollection  than 
"Sharp  Nose."  He  was  the  inspiration  of  the  battle-field.  He 
reminded  me  of  a  blacksmith  :  he  struck  with  a  sledge-ham 
mer,  but  intelligently,  at  the  right  spot  and  right  moment.  He 
handled  men  with  rare  judgment  and  coolness,  and  was  as  modest 
as  he  was  brave.  He  never  spoke  of  his  own  deeds,  but  was  an 
excellent  talker  on  general  topics,  and  could  not,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  refrain  from  mention,  at  times,  of  active  work  in  which 
he  had  had  a  share.  "  Washington,"  his  boon  companion  and 
councillor,  was  a  handsome  chief  who  had  assumed  this  name  in 
token  of  his  desire  to  "  walk  in  the  new  road."  He  had  been 
taken  on  a  trip  East,  and  had  been  so  impressed  with  all  the 
wonders  seen,  that  he  devoted  most  of  his  time  to  missionary 
work  among  his  people,  telling  them  that  they  could  only  hope 
for  advancement  by  becoming  good  friends  of  these  progressive 
white  men  and  adopting  their  ways. 


406          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

"  Friday  Fitzpatrick  "  had  been  lost  when  a  mere  child,  during 
a  fight  which  arose  between  the  Arapahoes  and  Blackfeet,  at  a 
time  when  they  were  both  on  the  Cimarron,  engaged  in  trading 
with  the  Apaches,  New  Mexico  Pueblos,  Kiowas,  Utes,  Paw 
nees,  and  Comanches,  some  distance  to  the  south  of  where  the 
foundry  and  smelter  chimneys  of  the  busy  city  of  Pueblo,  Colo 
rado,  now  blacken  the  air.  The  lost  Indian  boy  fell  into  the 
hands  of  Mr.  Fitzpatrick,  a  trader  of  St.  Louis,  who  had  him 
educated  by  the  Jesuits,  an  order  which  had  also  given  the  rudi 
ments  of  learning  to  Ouray,  the  head  chief  of  the  Utes. 
" Friday"  was  intelligent  and  shrewd,  speaking  English  fluently, 
but  his  morals  were  decidedly  shady.  I  used  to  talk  to  him  by 
the  hour,  and  never  failed  to  extract  pages  of  most  interesting 
information  concerning  savage  ideas,  manners,  and  customs. 
He  explained  the  Indian  custom  of  conferring  names  each  time 
a  warrior  had  distinguished  himself  in  battle,  and  gave  each  of 
the  four  agnomens  with  which  he  personally  had  been  honored — 
the  last  being  a  title  corresponding  in  English  to  "  The  Man  Who 
Sits  in  the  Corner  and  Keeps  His  Mouth  Shut/' 

"  Six  Feathers,"  "  White  Horse,"  and  "  Black  Coal  "  were  also 
able  men  to  whom  the  Arapahoes  looked  up  ;  the  first  was  as 
firm  a  friend  of  the  whites  as  was  "  Washington" — he  became 
General  Crook's  "brother";  others  of  our  mess  were  equally 
fortunate.  Being  an  Arapahoe's  "brother"  possessed  many 
advantages — for  the  Arapahoe.  You  were  expected  to  keep  him 
in  tobacco,  something  of  a  drain  upon  your  pocket-book,  although 
Indians  did  not  smoke  to  such  an  extent  as  white  men  and  yery 
rarely  used  chewing-tobacco.  If  your  newly-acquired  relation 
won  any  money  on  a  horse-race,  the  understanding  was  that 
he  should  come  around  to  see  you  and  divide  his  winnings  ;  but 
all  the  Indian  "  brothers "  Fve  ever  known  have  bet  on  the 
wrong  plug,  and  you  have  to  help  them  through  when  they  go 
broke.  "  White  Horse  "  was  a  grim  sort  of  a  wag.  One  day,  I 
had  him  and  some  others  of  the  Arapahoes  aiding  me  in  the 
compilation  of  a  vocabulary  of  their  language,  of  which  the 
English  traveller,  Burton,  had  made  the  groundless  statement 
that  it  was  so  harsh,  meagre,  and  difficult  that  to  express  their 
ideas  the  Arapahoes  were  compelled  to  stand  by  a  camp-fire  and 
talk  the  "sign  language."  I  am  in  a  position  to  say  that  the 
Arapahoe  language  is  full  of  guttural  sounds,  and  in  that  sense 


INDIAN  CELEBRITIES.  407 

is  difficult  of  acquisition,  but  it  is  a  copious,  well-constructed  dia 
lect,  inferior  to  none  of  the  aboriginal  tongues  of  North  America. 
We  had  been  hard  at  work  for  several  hours,  and  all  were  tired. 
"  To  eat,"  said  "  White  Horse,"  ({ is  so  and  so  ;  but  to  eat  some 
thing  good,  and  hot,  and  sweet,  right  now,  right  here  in  this 
room,  is  so  and  so  and  so,  and  you  can  tell  your  good  cook  to 
bring  it."  It  was  brought  at  once. 

I  have  not  introduced  the  lesser  figures  in  this  picture : 
men  like  "  American  Horse,"  "Young  Man  Afraid,"  "  Blue 
Horse,"  "  Eocky  Bear,"  and  others  who  have  since  become,  and 
were  even  in  those  days,  leaders  among  the  Dakotas.  My  canvas 
would  become  too  crowded.  It  must  do  to  say  that  each  of  these 
was  full  of  native  intelligence,  wise  in  his  way,  and  worthy  of 
being  encouraged  in  his  progress  along  the  new  and  toilsome  path 
of  civilization.  But  I  must  make  room  for  a  few  words  about 
"  Three  Bears"  ("Mato-yamani"),  a  warrior  fierce  in  battle  and 
humane  to  the  vanquished.  I  remember  his  coming  into  my 
tent  one  dismally  cold  night,  while  we  lay  on  the  Belle  Fourche, 
on  the  outskirts  of  the  Black  Hills,  after  wiping  out  "Dull 
Knife's"  village.  "  Three  Bears's  "  eyes  were  moist,  and  he  shook 
his  head  mournfully  as  he  said,  "  Cheyenne  pappoose  heap 
hungry." 

"Sorrel  Horse"  ("Shunca-luta")  was  a  "medicine  man,"  a 
ventriloquist,  and  a  magician.  The  women  and  children  stood 
in  awe  of  an  uncanny  wretch  who  boasted  that,  if  they  doubted 
his  power,  they  might  let  him  cut  off  a  lock  of  their  hair,  and 
inside  of  three  days  they  should  die.  After  my  electrical  duel 
with  "  High  Wolf,"  ( '  Sorrel  Horse  "  manifested  an  inclination 
to  show  me  what  he  could  do.  He  lay  down  on  the  floor,  put 
the  hot  bowl  of  a  pipe  in  his  mouth,  and  alternately  inhaled  the 
smoke  or  caused  it  to  issue  from  the  stem.  Pretty  soon  he  went 
into  a  trance,  and  deep  groans  and  grunts  were  emitted  from  the 
abdominal  region.  When  he  came  to,  he  assured  us  that  that 
was  the  voice  of  a  spirit  which  he  kept  within  him.  He  shuffled 
a  pack  of  cards,  and  handing  it  to  General  Mackenzie,  bade  him 
take  out  any  one  he  wanted  and  he  would  tell  the  name  ;  Mac 
kenzie  did  as  he  desired,  and  "  Sorrel  Horse  "  promptly  fixed  his 
fingers  in  diamond-shape  and  called  out  "Squaw,"  for  the  queen 
of  diamonds,  and  similarly  for  the  seven  of  clubs,  and  others 
as  fast  as  drawn.  He  again  lay  down  on  the  floor,  and  opened 


408          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

his  shirt  so  that  his  ribs  were  exposed  ;  he  took  a  small  piece  of 
tobacco,  and  pretended  to  swallow  it.  To  all  appearances,  he  be 
came  deathly  sick  :  his  countenance  turned  of  an  ashen  hue, 
perspiration  stood  on  his  brow,  the  same  lugubrious  grunts  issued 
from  his  stomach  and  throat,  and  I  was  for  a  moment  or  two  in 
alarm  about  his  condition ;  but  he  soon  recovered  consciousness,  if 
he  had  ever  lost  it,  and  triumphantly  drew  the  moist  leaf  of  tobacco 
from  beneath  his  ribs.  He  had  been  a  great  traveller  in  his  day, 
and  there  was  but  little  of  the  Missouri  or  Yellowstone  drainage 
that  he  was  not  familiar  with.  I  have  known  him  to  journey 
afoot  from  Red  Cloud  to  Spotted  Tail  Agency,  a  distance  of 
forty-three  measured  miles,  between  two  in  the  morning  and 
noon  of  the  same  day,  bearing  despatches.  The  Apaches,  Mo- 
javes,  and  other  tribes  of  the  Southwest  are  far  better  runners 
than  the  horse  Indians  of  the  plains,  but  I  have  known  few  of 
them  who  could  excel  "  Sorrel  Horse  "  in  this  respect. 

Nothing  was  to  be  done  at  this  time  except  wait  for  news  from 
"  Red  Cloud  "  and  "  Crazy  Horse."  The  Cheyennes  were  impa 
tient  to  go  out  to  war, 'but  it  was  war  against  "Crazy  Horse " 
and  not  the  white  man.  However,  the  promise  had  been  sent  by 
General  Crook  to  "Crazy  Horse"  that  if  he  started  in  good  faith 
and  kept  moving  straight  in  to  the  agency,  he  should  be  allowed 
every  reasonable  facility  for  bringing  all  his  people  without  moles 
tation.  "Red  Cloud "  sent  word  regularly  of  the  march  made 
each  day  :  one  of  the  half-breeds  with  him,  a  man  who  prided 
himself  upon  his  educational  attainments,  wrote  the  letters  to 
Lieutenant  Clarke,  who,  with  Major  Randall,  was  in  charge  of 
the  Indian  scouts.  The  following  will  serve  as  an  example  : 

A  Pril  16th  1877. 

Sir  My  Dear  I  have  met  some  Indians  on  road  and  thare  say  the  indians 
on  bear  lodge  creek  on  16th  april  and  I  thought  let  you  know  it.  And  I 
think  I  will  let  you  know  better  after  I  get  to  the  camp  so  I  sent  the  young 
man  with  this  letter  he  have  been  to  the  camp  before  his  name  is  arme  blown 
off  RED  CLOUD. 

When  "Red  Cloud "  and  his  party  reached  "Crazy  Horse" 
they  found  the  statements  made  by  the  latter  Indian  were  strictly 
correct.  The  thousands  of  square  miles  of  country  burned  over 
during  the  preceding  season  were  still  gaunt  and  bare,  and 
"  Crazy  Horse  "  was  compelled  to  march  with  his  famished  ponies 


VISITS  TO  THE  INDIAN  VILLAGES.  409 

over  a  region  as  destitute  as  the  Sahara.  The  rations  taken  out 
for  the  women  and  children  were  well  bestowed ;  there  was  no 
food  in  the  village,  and  some  of  the  more  imprudent  ate  them 
selves  sick,  and  I  may  add  that  one  of  "  Crazy  Horse's  "  men  sent 
on  in  advance  to  Camp  Robinson  surfeited  himself  and  died. 

While  Eed  Cloud  was  absent  there  were  several  small  brushes 
with  petty  bands  of  prowling  hostiles.  Lieutenants  Lemly,  Cum- 
ings,  and  Bardie,  of  the  Third  Cavalry,  did  spirited  work  near 
Deadwood  and  Fort  Fetterman  respectively,  and  a  battalion  of 
the  same  regiment,  under  Major  Vroom,  was  kept  patrolling  the 
eastern  side  of  the  Hills. 

Time  did  not  hang  heavy  upon  our  hands  at  Robinson  :  there 
were  rides  and  walks  about  the  post  for  those  who  took  pleasure 
in  them  ;  sometimes  a  party  would  go  as  far  as  Crow  Butte,  with 
its  weird,  romantic  story  of  former  struggles  between  the  Absa- 
roka  and  the  Dakota ;  sometimes  into  the  pine-mantled  bluffs 
overlooking  the  garrison,  where,  two  years  later,  the  brave  Chey- 
ennes,  feeling  that  the  Government  had  broken  faith  with  them, 
were  again  on  the  war-path,  fighting  to  the  death.  There  were 
visits  to  the  Indian  villages,  where  the  courteous  welcome  re 
ceived  from  the  owners  of  the  lodges  barely  made  amends  for  the 
vicious  attacks  by  half-rabid  curs  upon  the  horses'  heels.  The 
prismatic  splendors  of  the  rainbow  had  been  borrowed  to  give 
beauty  to  the  raiment  or  lend  dignity  to  the  countenances  of  In 
dians  of  both  sexes,  who  moved  in  a  steady  stream  to  the  trader's 
store  to  buy  all  there  was  to  sell.  Many  of  the  squaws  wore  bod 
ices  and  skirts  of  the  finest  antelope  skin,  thickly  incrusted  with 
vari-colored  beads  or  glistening  with  the  nacreous  brilliancy  of 
the  tusks  of  elk  ;  in  all  these  glories  of  personal  adornment  they 
were  well  matched  by  the  warriors,  upon  whose  heads  were  strik 
ingly  picturesque  war-bonnets  with  eagle  feathers  studding  them 
from  crown  to  ground.  These  were  to  be  worn  only  on  gala  oc 
casions,  but  each  day  was  a  festal  one  at  that  time  for  all  these 
people.  Almost  as  soon  as  the  sun  proclaimed  the  hour  of  noon 
groups  of  dancers  made  their  way  to  the  open  ground  in  front 
of  the  commanding  general's  quarters,  and  there  favored  the 
whites  with  a  never-ending  series  of  " Omaha"  dances  and 
"Spoon"  dances,  "Squaw"  dances  and  "War"  dances,  which 
were  wonderfully  interesting  and  often  beautiful  to  look  upon, 
but  open  to  the  objection  that  the  unwary  .Caucasian  who  ven- 


410          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

tured  too  near  the  charmed  circle  was  in  danger  of  being  seized 
by  stout-armed  viragoes,  and  compelled  to  prance  about  with 
them  until  his  comrades  had  contributed  a  ransom  of  two  dollars. 

Neither  were  we  altogether  ignorant  of  the  strange  wonders  of 
the  "  Bad  Lands/'  which  began  near  by,  and  are,  or  were,  filled 
with  the  skeletons  of  mammoth  saurians  and  other  monsters  of 
vanished  seas.  "  Old  Paul " — I  don't  think  he  ever  had  any  other 
name — the  driver  of  General  Mackenzie's  ambulance,  had  much 
to  relate  about  these  marvellous  animal  cemeteries.  "  Loo-o-tin- 
int,"  he  would  say,  "it's  the  dog-gonedest  country  I  ever  seed — 
reg'lar  bone-yard.  ("Waugh  !  Tobacco  juice. )  Wa'al,  I  got  lots 
o*  things  out  thar — thighs  'n  jaw-bones  'n  sich — them's  no  ac 
count,  th'  groun's  chock  full  o'  them.  (Waugh  !  Tobacco  juice.) 
But,  pew-trified  tar'pin  'n  snappin'  torkle — why,  them's  waller- 
ble.  Onct  I  got  a  bone  full  o'  pew-trified  marrer ;  looks  like 
glass;  guess  I'll  send  it  to  a  mew-see-um."  (Waugh  !  Tobacco 
juice. ) 

The  slopes  of  the  hills  seemed  to  be  covered  with  Indian  boys, 
ponies,  and  dogs.  The  small  boy  and  the  big  dog  are  two  of  the 
principal  features  of  every  Indian  village  or  Indian  cavalcade  ; 
to  these  must  be  added  the  bulbous-eyed  pappoose,  in  its  bead- 
covered  cradle  slung  to  the  saddle  of  its  mother's  pony,  and 
wrapped  so  tightly  in  folds  of  cloth  and  buckskin  that  its  optics 
stick  out  like  door-knobs.  The  Indian  boy  is  far  ahead  of  his 
white  contemporary  in  healthy  vigor  and  manly  beauty.  Look 
ing  at  the  subject  as  a  boy  would,  I  don't  know  of  an  existence 
with  more  happiness  to  the  square  inch  than  that  of  the  young 
redskin  from  eight  to  twelve  years  old.  With  no  one  to  reproach 
him  because  face  or  hands  are  unclean,  to  scowl  because  his 
scanty  allowance  of  clothing  has  run  to  tatters,  and  no  long- 
winded  lessons  in  geography  or  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  his  existence  is  one  uninterrupted  gleam  of  sunshine. 
The  Indian  youngster  knows  every  bird's  nest  for  miles  around, 
every  good  place  for  bathing,  every  nice  pile  of  sand  or  earth  to 
roll  in.  With  a  pony  to  ride — and  he  has  a  pony  from  the  time 
he  is  four  years  old  ;  and  a  bow — or,  better  luck  still,  a  rifle— for 
shooting  :  he  sees  little  in  the  schools  of  civilization  to  excite  his 
envy.  On  ration  days,  when  the  doomed  beeves  are  turned  over  to 
each  band,  what  bliss  to  compare  to  that  of  charging  after  the 
frenzied  steers  and  shooting  them  down  on  the  dead  run  ?  When 


INDIAN  TRADITIONS.  411 

the  winter  sun  shone  brightly,  these  martial  scions  would  some 
times  forget  their  dignity  long  enough  to  dismount  and  engage 
in  a  game  of  shinny  with  their  gayly-attired  sisters,  who  rarely 
failed  to  hring  out  all  the  muscle  that  was  in  them. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  give  more  than  the  vaguest  shadow 
of  the  occurrences  of  that  period  without  filling  a  volume.  In 
dian  life  was  not  only  before  us  and  on  all  sides  of  us,  but  we 
had  also  insensibly  and  unconsciously  become  part  of  it.  Our 
eyes  looked  upon  their  pantomimic  dances — our  ears  were  regaled 
with  their  songs,  or  listened  to  the  myths  and  traditions  handed 
down  from  the  old  men.  "Spotted  Tail  "said  that  he  could 
not  remember  the  time  when  the  Sioux  did  not  have  horses,  but 
he  had  often  heard  his  father  say  that  in  his  youth  they  still  had 
dogs  to  haul  their  ' '  travois,"  as  their  kinsmen,  the  Assiniboines, 
to  the  north  still  do. 

"  Friday  "  said  that  when  he  was  a  very  small  child,  the  Ara- 
pahoes  still  employed  big  dogs  to  haul  their  property,  and  that 
old  women  and  men  marched  in  front  laden  with  paunches  filled 
with  water,  with  which  to  sprinkle  the  parched  tongues  of  the 
animals  every  couple  of  hundred  yards. 

"  Fire  Crow,"  a  Cheyenne,  here  interposed,  and  said  that  the 
Cheyennes  claimed  to  have  been  the  first  Northern  Indians  to 
use  horses,  and  thereupon  related  the  following  story  :  ' ( A  young 
Cheyenne  maiden  wandered  away  from  home,  and  could  not  be 
found.  Her  friends  followed  her  trail,  going  south  until  they 
came  to  the  shore  of  a  large  lake  into  which  the  foot-prints  led. 
While  the  Indians  were  bewailing  the  supposed  sad  fate  of  their 
lost  relative,  she  suddenly  returned,  bringing  with  her  a  fine 
young  stallion,  the  first  the  Cheyennes  had  ever  seen.  She  told 
her  friends  that  she  was  married  to  a  white  man  living  near  by, 
and  that  she  would  go  back  to  obtain  a  mare,  which  she  did. 
From  this  pair  sprung  all  the  animals  which  the  Cheyennes, 
Sioux,  and  Arapahoes  now  have." 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 


HOSTILE  INDIANS — PLUNDERING  UNARMED,  PEACEABLE 
INDIANS — SUPPER  WITH  "  CRAZY  HORSE" — CHARACTER  OF 
THIS  CHIEF — HIS  BRAVERY  AND  GENEROSITY — THE  STORY 
OF  THE  CUSTER  MASSACRE  AS  TOLD  BY  "  HORNY  HORSE" — 
LIEUTENANT  REILLY^S  RING — THE  DEATH  OF  "  CRAZY 
HORSE  "— ' '  LITTLE  BIG  MAN'S  "  STORY  ABOUT  IT — "  CRAZY 
HORSE  "  PROBABLY  HIS  OWN  SLAYER — THE  EBB  OF  SIOUX 
SUPREMACY. 

ON  the  6th  of  May,  1877,  shortly  after  meridian,  "  Crazy 
Horse's  "  band  approached  the  agency,  descending  the  hills 
in  the  following  order  :  First,  Lieutenant  William  P.  Clarke,  with 
the  agency  Indians — that  is,  "Red  Cloud"  and  his  Indian  soldiers; 
next,  "  Crazy  Horse,"  at  the  head  of  his  warriors,  having  abreast 
of  him  "  Little  Big  Man,"  "Little  Hawk,"  "He  Dog,"  "Old 
Hawk,"  and  "  Bad  Road."  Stringing  along  behind,  for  a  dis 
tance  of  nearly  two  miles,  came  the  old  men  with  the  women 
and  children,  lodges,  ponies,  dogs,  and  other  plunder.  Lieuten 
ant  Clarke  had  gone  out  early  in  the  morning  to  a  point  seven 
or  eight  miles  from  the  post  to  meet  the  incoming  party.  "  Crazy 
Horse,"  upon  learning  who  he  was,  remained  silent,  but  was  not 
at  all  ungracious  or  surly.  He  dismounted  from  his  pony,  sat 
down  upon  the  ground,  and  said  that  then  was  the  best  time  for 
smoking  the  pipe  of  peace.  He  then  held  out  his  left  hand  to 
Clarke,  telling  him  :  ' '  Cola  (friend),  I  shake  with  this  hand 
because  my  heart  is  on  this  side  ;  I  want  this  peace  to  last  for 
ever."  The  principal  warriors  were  then  presented,  each  shak 
ing  hands.  "Crazy  Horse"  had  given  his  feather  bonnet  and 
all  other  regalia  of  the  war-path  to  "  Red  Cloud,"  his  brother-in- 


THE   SURRENDER   OF    "  CRAZY   HORSE."  413 

law,  as  he  had  no  further  use  for  them.  "  He- Dog  "  took  off  his 
own  war  bonnet  and  scalp  shirt  and  put  them  upon  Clarke  in 
sign  of  friendly  good-will.  The  most  perfect  discipline  was 
maintained,  and  silence  reigned  from  the  head  of  the  cavalcade 
to  the  farthest  "travois." 

When  the  post  was  reached,  the  warriors  began  to  intone  a 
peace  chant,  in  whose  refrain  the  squaws  and  older  children 
joined,  and  which  lasted  until  a  halt  was  ordered  and  the  work 
of  turning  over  ponies  and  surrendering  arms  began.  An  enu 
meration  disclosed  the  fact  that  "  Crazy  Horse  "  had  with  him 
not  quite  twenty-five  hundred  ponies,  over  three  hundred  war 
riors,  one  hundred  and  forty-six  lodges,  with  an  average  of  al 
most  two  families  in  each,  and  between  eleven  hundred  and 
eleven  hundred  and  fifty  people  all  told,  not  counting  the  very 
considerable  number  who  were  able  to  precede  the  main  body, 
on  account  of  having  fatter  and  stronger  ponies.  Lieutenant 
Clarke,  in  firm  but  quiet  tones,  informed  the  new  arrivals  that 
everything  in  the  shape  of  a  fire-arm  must  be  given  up,  and  to 
insure  this  being  done  he  would  wait  until  after  the  squaws  had 
pitched  their  "tepis,"  and  then  make  the  collection  in  person. 
One  hundred  and  seventeen  fire-arms,  principally  cavalry  car 
bines  and  Winchesters,  were  found  and  hauled  away  in  a  cart. 
"  Crazy  Horse"  himself  gave  up  three  Winchesters,  and  "Little 
Hawk "  two.  By  what  seemed  to  be  a  curious  coincidence, 
"  Little  Hawk  "  wore  pendent  at  his  neck  the  silver  medal  given 
to  his  father  at  the  Peace  Conference  on  the  North  Platte,  in 
1817  ;  it  bore  the  effigy  of  President  Monroe.  Some  of  the  other 
chiefs,  in  surrendering,  laid  sticks  down  upon  the  ground,  say 
ing :  "  Cola,  this  is  my  gun,  this  little  one  is  a  pistol ;  send  to 
my  lodge  and  get  them/'  Every  one  of  these  pledges  was  re 
deemed  by  the  owner.  There  was  no  disorder  and  no  bad  feel 
ing,  which  was  remarkable  enough,  considering  that  so  many  of 
"Crazy  Horse's"  band  had  never  been  on  a  reservation  before. 
Everything  ran  along  as  smooth  as  clock-work,  such  interpreta 
tion  as  was  necessary  being  made  by  Frank  Gruard  and  Billy 
Hunter  ;  Clarke,  however,  needed  little  help,  as  he  could  converse 
perfectly  in  the  sign  language.  Just  behind  the  knoll  overlook 
ing  the  flat  upon  which  " Crazy  Horse's"  village  had  been 
erected,  every  one  of  'the  Cheyenne  warriors  was  in  the  saddle, 
armed  to  the  teeth,  and  ready  to  charge  down  upon  "Crazy 


414          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Horse ''  and  settle  their  score  with  him,  at  the  first  sign  of 
treachery. 

"  Crazy  Horse's  "  warriors  were  more  completely  disarmed  than 
any  other  bands  coming  under  my  observation,  not  so  much  in 
the  number  of  weapons  as  in  the  pattern  and  condition ;  to  dis 
arm  Indians  is  always  an  unsatisfactory  piece  of  business,  so  long 
as  the  cowboys  and  other  lawless  characters  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
agencies  are  allowed  to  roam  over  the  country,  each  one  a  travel 
ling  arsenal.  The  very  same  men  who  will  kill  unarmed  squaws 
and  children,  as  was  done  in  January,  1891,  near  Pine  Ridge 
Agency,  will  turn  around  and  sell  to  the  bucks  the  arms  and  am 
munition  which  they  require  for  the  next  war-path.  At  the  very 
moment  when  Crook  was  endeavoring  to  deprive  the  surrender 
ing  hostiles  of  deadly  weapons,  Colonel  Mason  captured  a  man 
with  a  vehicle  loaded  with  metallic  cartridges,  brought  up  from 
Cheyenne  or  Sidney,  to  be  disposed  of  to  the  young  men  at  Spot 
ted  Tail.  As  with  cartridges,  so  with  whiskey  :  the  western 
country  has  too  many  reprobates  who  make  a  nefarious  living  by 
the  sale  of  vile  intoxicants  to  savages  ;  this  has  been  persistently 
done  among  the  Sioux,  Mojaves,  Hualpais,  Navajos,  and  Apaches, 
to  my  certain  knowledge.  Rarely  are  any  of  these  scoundrels 
punished.  The  same  class  of  men  robbed  the  Indians  with  im 
punity  ;  "  Spotted  Tail"  lost  sixty  head  of  ponies  which  the 
Indian  scouts  trailed  down  to  North  Platte,  where  they  were  sold 
among  the  stock-raisers.  The  arrest  of  the  thieves  was  confided 
to  the  then  sheriff  of  Sidney,  who,  somehow,  always  failed  to 
come  up  with  them  ;  possibly  the  fact  that  he  was  the  head  of 
the  gang  himself  may  have  had  something  to  do  with  his  non- 
success,  but  that  is  hard  to  say. 

"  Crazy  Horse  "  took  his  first  supper  at  Red  Cloud  Agency 
with  Frank  Gruard,  who  had  been  his  captive  for  a  long  time 
and  had  made  his  escape  less  than  two  years  previously.  Frank 
asked  me  to  go  over  with  him.  When  we  approached  the  chief's 
"tepi,"  a  couple  of  squaws  were  grinding  coffee  between  two 
stones,  and  preparing  something  to  eat.  "  Crazy  Horse "  re 
mained  seated  on  the  ground,  but  when  Frank  called  his  name 
in  Dakota,  "  Tashunca-uitco,"  at  the  same  time  adding  a  few 
words  I  did  not  understand,  he  looked  up,  arose,  and  gave  me  a 
hearty  grasp  of  his  hand.  I  saw  before  me  a  man  who  looked 


"CRAZY  HORSE."  415 

quite  young,  not  over  thirty  years  old,  five  feet  eight  inches 
high,  lithe  and  sinewy,  with  a  scar  in  the  face.  The  expression 
of  his  countenance  was  one  of  quiet  dignity,  hut  morose,  dogged, 
tenacious,  and  melancholy.  He  behaved  with  stolidity,  like  a 
man  who  realized  he  had  to  give  in  to  Fate,  but  would  do  so  as 
sullenly  as  possible.  While  talking  to  Frank,  his  countenance 
lit  up  with  genuine  pleasure,  but  to  all  others  he  was,  at  least 
in  the  first  days  of  his  coming  upon  the  reservation,  gloomy 
and  reserved.  All  Indians  gave  him  a  high  reputation  for 
courage  and  generosity.  In  advancing  upon  an  enemy,  none  of 
his  warriors  were  allowed  to  pass  him.  He  had  made  hun 
dreds  of  friends  by  his  charity  towards  the  poor,  as  it  was  a 
point  of  honor  with  him  never  to  keep  anything  for  himself, 
excepting  weapons  of  war.  I  never  heard  an  Indian  mention 
his  name  save  in  terms  of  respect.  In  the  Ouster  massacre,  the 
attack  by  Reno  had  at  first  caused  a  panic  among  women  and  chil 
dren,  and  some  of  the  warriors,  who  started  to  flee,  but  "  Crazy 
Horse/'  throwing  away  his  rifle,  brained  one  of  the  incoming 
soldiers  with  his  stone  war-club  and  jumped  upon  his  horse. 

"Little  Hawk,"  who  appeared  to  rank  next  to  "  Crazy  Horse" 
in  importance,  was  much  like  his  superior  in  size  and  build,  but 
his  face  was  more  kindly  in  expression  and  he  more  fluent  in 
speech  ;  he  did  most  of  the  talking.  "  Little  Big  Man"  I  did 
not  like  in  those  days  ;  principally  on  account  of  his  insolent 
behavior  to  the  members  of  the  Allison  Commission  at  this  same 
agency,  during  the  summer.  In  appearance  he  was  crafty,  but 
withal  a  man  of  considerable  ability  and  force.  He  and  I  be 
came  better  friends  afterwards,  and  exchanged  presents.  I  hold 
now  his  beautiful  calumet  and  a  finely-beaded  tobacco  bag,  as 
well  as  a  shirt  trimmed  with  human  scalps,  which  was  once  the 
property  of  "  Crazy  Horse." 

As  it  is  never  too  soon  to  begin  a  good  work,  Mr.  Thomas 
Moore,  the  Chief  of  Transportation,  was  busy  the  next  morning 
in  teaching  the  Sioux  squaws  how  to  make  bread  out  of  the  flour 
issued  to  them,  which  used  to  be  wasted,  fed  to  their  ponies, 
or  bartered  off  at  the  trader's  store. 

Mingling  as  we  were  with  chiefs  and  warriors  who  had  been 
fighting  the  Government  without  intermission  for  more  than  a 
year,  and  who  had  played  such  a  bloody  part  in  the  Custer 


416          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

tragedy,  it  was  natural  that  we  should  seek  to  learn  all  we  could 
to  throw  light  upon  that  sombre  page  in  our  military  annals. 
I  cannot  say  that  'much  information  was  gained  not  already 
known  to  the  public.  The  Indians  appeared  to  believe  that  from 
the  moment  that  Ouster  divided  his  forces  in  presence  of  such 
overwhelming  odds,  the  destruction  of  the  whole  or  the  greater 
part  was  a  foregone  conclusion.  A  picture  of  the  battle-field 
was  drawn  by  one  of  the  Indians  present  in  hostility,  and  marked 
by  myself  under  his  direction.  In  some  of  the  villages  indicated 
there  were  portions  of  several  bands. 

This  is  the  exact  language  of  "  Horny  Horse  "  :  "  Some  lodges 
came  out  from  Standing  Rock  Agency  and  told  us  the  troops 
were  coming.  The  troops  charged  on  the  camp  before  we  knew 
they  were  there.  The  lodges  were  strung  out  about  as  far  as 
from  here  to  the  Red  Cloud  Agency  slaughter-house  (about  two 
and  a  half  miles).  I  was  in  the  council-house  with  a  lot  of  the 
old  men,  when  we  heard  shots  fired  from  up  the  river.  The 
troops  first  charged  from  up  the  river.  We  came  out  of  the 
council-house  and  ran  to  our  lodges. 

"  All  the  young  bucks  got  on  their  horses  and  charged  the 
troops.  All  the  old  bucks  and  squaws  ran  the  other  way.  We 
ran  the  troops  back.  Then  there  was  another  party  of  troops 
on  the  other  side  of  the  river.  One  half  of  the  Indians  pur 
sued  the  first  body  of  troops  («.  e.,  Reno's) ;  the  other  half  went 
after  the  other  body  (i.  e.,  Ouster's).  I  didn't  see  exactly  all 
the  fight,  but  by  noon,  all  of  one  party  (i.  e.,  Ouster's)  were 
killed,  and  the  others  driven  back  into  a  bad  place.  We  took  no 
prisoners.  I  did  not  go  out  to  see  the  bodies,  because  there  were 
two  young  bucks  of  my  band  killed  in  the  fight  and  we  had  to 
look  after  them. 

"We  made  the  other  party  of  soldiers  (*'.  e.,  Reno's)  cross 
the  creek  and  run  back  to  where  they  had  their  pack-train. 
The  reason  we  didn't  kill  all  this  (Reno's)  party  was  because 
while  we  were  fighting  his  party,  we  heard  that  more  soldiers 
were  coming  up  the  river,  so  we  had  to  pack  up  and  leave. 
We  left  some  good  young  men  killed  in  that  fight.  We  had 
a  great  many  killed  in  the  fight,  and  some  others  died  of  their 
wounds.  I  know  that  there  were  between  fifty  and  sixty  In 
dians  killed  in  the  fight.  After  the  fight  we  went  to  Wolf 
Mountain,  near  the  head  of  Goose  Creek.  Then  we  followed 


I 


END  OP  INDIAN  SUPREMACY  IN  THE  NORTHWEST.      417 

Rosebud  down,  and  then  went  over  to  Bluestone  Creek.  We 
had  the  fight  on  Rosebud  first,  and  seven  days  after,  this  fight. 
When  we  got  down  to  Bluestone,  the  band  broke  up." 

From  the  bands  surrendering  at  Red  Cloud  and  Spotted  Tail 
agencies,  many  relics  of  the  Custer  tragedy  were  obtained. 
Among  other  things  secured  was  a  heavy  gold  ring,  surmounted 
with  a  bloodstone  seal,  engraved  with  a  griffin,  which  had  for 
merly  belonged  to  Lieutenant  Reilly  of  the  Seventh  Cavalry,  who 
perished  on  that  day.  This  interesting  relic  was  returned  to  his 
mother  in  Washington. 

The  total  number  of  Indians  surrendering  at  these  agencies 
(Red  Cloud  and  Spotted  Tail)  was  not  quite  four  thousand  five 
hundred,  who  made  no  secret  of  the  fact  that  they  had  yielded 
because  they  saw  that  it  was  impossible  to  stand  out  against  the 
coalition  made  by  General  Crook  between  the  white  soldiers  and 
their  own  people ;  the  terrible  disaster  happening  to  the  Chey 
enne  village  had  opened  their  ears  to  the  counsels  of  their  breth 
ren  still  in  those  agencies,  and  the  alliance  between  the  Chey- 
ennes  and  the  whites  proved  to  them  that  further  resistance 
would  be  useless.  They  surrendered,  and  they  surrendered  for 
good  ;  there  has  never  been  another  battle  with  the  tribes  of  the 
northern  plains  as  such ;  work  of  a  most  arduous  and  perilous 
character  has  been  from  time  to  time  performed,  in  which  many 
officers  and  brave  soldiers  have  laid  down  their  lives  at  the  behest 
of  duty,  but  the  statement  here  made  cannot  be  gainsaid,  and 
will  never  be  questioned  by  the  honest  and  truthful  investigator, 
that  the  destruction  of  the  village  of  "Dull  Knife,"  and  the  sub 
sequent  enlistment  of  the  whole  of  the  northern  Cheyennes  as 
scouts  in  the  military  service,  sounded  the  death-knell  of  Indian 
supremacy  for  Nebraska,  Wyoming,  both  the  Dakotas,  and 
Montana. 

Crook  took  up  the  tangled  threads  of  Indian  affairs  at  the 
agencies  with  his  accustomed  energy,  intelligence,  coolness,  pa 
tience,  and  foresight  gained  in  an  experience  of  almost  twenty- 
five  years.  The  new  surrenders  were  ignorant,  timid,  sullen, 
distrustful,  suspicious,  revengeful,  and  with  the  departure  of  the 
Cheyennes  for  the  Indian  Territory,  which  took  place  almost  im 
mediately  after,  began  to  reflect  more  upon  the  glories  of  the 
fight  with  Custer  than  upon  the  disaster  of  November.  This 
was  the  normal  state  of  affairs,  but  it  was  intensified  by  the 
27 


418         ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

rumors,  which  proved  to  be  only  too  well  founded,  that  Congress 
was  legislating  to  transfer  the  Sioux  to  another  locality — either  to 
the  Missouri  Kiver  or  the  Indian  Territory.  A  delegation  was 
sent  down  to  the  Indian  Territory  to  look  at  the  land,  but  upon 
its  return  it  reported  unfavorably. 

"Crazy  Horse"  began  to  cherish  hopes  of  being  able  to  slip 
out  of  the  agency  and  get  back  into  some  section  farther  to  the 
north,  where  he  would  have  little  to  fear,  and  where  he  could  re 
sume  the  old  wild  life  with  its  pleasant  incidents  of  hunting  the 
buffalo,  the  elk,  and  the  moose,  and  its  raids  upon  the  horses  of 
Montana.  He  found  his  purposes  detected  and  baffled  at  every 
turn :  his  camp  was  filled  with  soldiers,  in  uniform  or  without, 
but  each  and  all  reporting  to  the  military  officials  each  and 
every  act  taking  place  under  their  observation.  Even  his  council- 
lodge  was  no  longer  safe  :  all  that  was  said  therein  was  repeated 
by  some  one,  and  his  most  trusted  subordinates,  who  had  for 
merly  been  proud  to  obey  unquestioningly  every  suggestion,  were 
now  cooling  rapidly  in  their  rancor  towards  the  whites  and  begin 
ning  to  doubt  the  wisdom  of  a  resumption  of  the  bloody  path  of 
war.  The  Spotted  Tail  Agency,  to  which  "  Crazy  Horse  "  wished 
to  belong,  was  under  the  supervision  of  an  army  officer — Major 
Jesse  M.  Lee,  of  the  Ninth  Infantry — whose  word  was  iron,  who 
never  swerved  from  the  duty  he  owed  to  these  poor,  misguided 
wretches,  and  who  manifested  the  deepest  and  most  intelligent 
interest  in  their  welfare.  I  will  not  bother  the  reader  with  de 
tails  as  to  the  amount  of  food  allowed  to  the  Indians,  but  I  will 
say  that  every  ounce  of  it  got  to  the  Indian's  stomach,  and  the 
Indians  were  sensible  enough  to  see  that  justice,  truth,  and  com 
mon  honesty  were  not  insignificant  diplomatic  agencies  in  break 
ing  down  and  eradicating  the  race-antipathies  which  had  been  no 
small  barrier  to  progress  hitherto.  General  Crook  had  been 
specially  fortunate  in  the  selection  of  the  officers  to  take  charge 
of  Indian  matters,  and  in  such  men  as  Major  Daniel  W.  Burke 
and  Captain  Kennington,  of  the  Fourteenth  Infantry,  and  Mills, 
of  the  Third  Cavalry,  had  deputies  who  would  carry  out  the  new 
policy,  which  had  as  one  of  its  fundamentals  that  the  Indians 
must  not  be  stolen  blind.  The  Sioux  were  quick  to  perceive  the 
change  :  less  than  twelve  months  before,  they  had  been  robbed 
in  the  most  bold-faced  manner,  the  sacks  which  were  accepted  as 
containing  one  hundred  pounds  of  flour  containing  only  eighty- 


"CRAZY  HORSE'S"  PLAN  OF  ESCAPE.       419 

eight.  When  delivery  was  made,  the  mark  of  the  inspecting  and 
receiving  officer  would  be  stamped  upon  the  outer  sack,  and  the 
moment  his  back  was  turned,  that  sack  would  be  pulled  off,  and 
the  under  and  unmarked  one  submitted  for  additional  count 
ing. 

Those  two  agencies  were  a  stench  in  the  nostrils  of  decent 
people  ;  the  attention  of  honest  tax-payers  was  first  called  to  their 
disgraceful  management,  by  Mr.  Welsh,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Pro 
fessor  Marsh,  of  New  Haven.  After  a  sufficiently  dignified  delay, 
suited  to  the  gravity  of  the  case,  a  congressional  committee  recom 
mended  the  removal  of  the  agents,  and  that  the  contractor  be 
proceeded  against,  which  was  done,  and  the  contractor  sentenced 
to  two  years  in  the  penitentiary. 

Two  other  officers  of  the  army  did  good  work  in  the  first  and 
most  trying  days  at  these  agencies,  and  their  services  should  not 
be  forgotten.  They  were  Lieutenant  Morris  Foote,  of  the  Ninth, 
and  Lieutenant  A.  C.  Johnson,  of  the  Fourteenth  Infantry.  Lieu 
tenant  William  P.  Clarke,  wTho  had  remained  in  charge  of  the 
Indian  scouts,  kept  General  Crook  fully  posted  upon  all  that 
"Crazy  Horse"  had  in  contemplation;  but  nothing  serious  oc 
curred  until  the  fall  of  the  year  1877,  when  the  Nez  Perce  war 
was  at  its  height,  and  it  became  necessary  to  put  every  available 
man  of  the  Department  of  the  Platte  at  Camp  Brown  to  intercept 
Chief  "  Joseph  "  in  his  supposed  purpose  of  coming  down  from 
the  Gray  Bull  Pass  into  the  Shoshone  and  Bannock  country,  in 
the  hope  of  getting  aid  and  comfort.  "Crazy  Horse"  had  lost 
so  many  of  his  best  arms  at  the  surrender,  and  he  felt  that  he 
was  so  closely  watched,  and  surrounded  by  so  many  lukewarm 
adherents,  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  leave  the  agency  openly ; 
and  accordingly  he  asked  permission  to  go  out  into  the  Big  Horn 
on  a  hunt  for  buffalo,  which  permission  was  declined.  He  then 
determined  to  break  away  in  the  night,  and  by  making  a  forced 
march,  put  a  good  stretch  of  territory  between  himself  and  troops 
sent  in  pursuit. 

Including  the  band  of  "  Touch  the  Clouds,"  which  had  sur 
rendered  at  Spotted  Tail  Agency  some  time  before  the  arrival  of 
"Crazy  Horse"  at  Eed  Cloud,  and  the  stragglers  who  had  pre 
ceded  him  into  the  latter  agency,  "Crazy  Horse"  reckoned  on 
having  about  two  thousand  people  to  follow  his  fortunes  to 
British  America,  or  whithersoever  he  might  conclude  to  go. 


420          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

When  his  purposes  became  known  his  arrest  was  made  neces 
sary.  General  Crook  hurried  to  Eed  Cloud  Agency,  and  from 
there  started  over  towards  Spotted  Tail  Agency,  intending  to 
have  a  talk  with  "  Crazy  Horse'"  and  the  other  chiefs ;  but  when 
about  half-way  our  conveyance  was  stopped  by  a  Sioux  runner — 
"Woman's  Dress" — who  said  that  he  had  been  sent  by  "Spotted 
Tail"  and  the  other  Indians  to  warn  General  Crook  that  "  Crazy 
Horse "  had  unequivocally  asserted  that  he  would  kill  General 
Crook  in  the  coming  council,  if  Crook's  words  did  not  suit  him. 
Crook  returned  to  Red  Cloud  Agency  and  summoned  all  the 
chiefs,  including  "  Crazy  Horse,"  to  a  conference ;  "  Crazy 
Horse  "  paid  no  attention  to  the  message. 

General  Crook  informed  the  Indians  that  they  were  being  led 
astray  by  "Crazy  Horse's"  folly,  and  that  they  must  preserve 
order  in  their  own  ranks  and  arrest  "  Crazy  Horse."  The  chiefs 
deliberated  and  said  that  "Crazy  Horse"  was  such  a  desperate 
man,  it  would  be  necessary  to  kill  him  ;  General  Crook  replied 
that  that  would  be  murder,  and  could  not  be  sanctioned  ;  that 
there  was  force  enough  at  or  near  the  two  agencies  ("  Crazy 
Horse  "  had  removed  from  Red  Cloud  to  Spotted  Tail)  to  round 
up  not  only  "  Crazy  Horse,"  but  his  whole  band,  and  that  more 
troops  would  be  sent,  if  necessary ;  he  counted  upon  the  loyal 
Indians  effecting  this  arrest  themselves,  as  it  would  prove  to  tbe 
nation  that  they  were  not  in  sympathy  with  the  non-progressive 
element  of  their  tribe. 

General  Crook  had  started  for  Camp  Brown  to  superintend  in 
person  the  massing  of  the  troops  who  were  to  head  off  Chief 
"  Joseph,"  but  when  Sheridan  heard  of  the  threatening  look  of 
things  at  the  Nebraska  agencies,  he  telegraphed  to  Crook  under 
date  of  September  1, 1877  :  "  I  think  your  presence  more  necessary 
at  Red  Cloud  Agency  than  at  Camp  Brown,  and  wish  you  to  get 
off  (the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  train)  at  Sidney,  and  go  there." 
Again,  under  date  of  September  3,  1877:  "I  do  not  like  the 
attitude  of  affairs  at  Red  Cloud  Agency,  and  very  much  doubt 
the  propriety  of  your  going  to  Camp  Brown.  The  surrender  or 
capture  of  'Joseph'  in  that  direction  is  but  a  small  matter  com 
pared  with  what  might  happen  to  the  frontier  from  a  disturbance 
at  Red  Cloud."  .  .  .  Agent  Irwin,  who  had  assumed  charge 
of  affairs  at  Red  Cloud  Agency,  was  a  faithful  and  conscientious 
representative  of  the  Indian  bureau ;  he  did  all  in  his  power  to 


THE   DEATH  OF    "CRAZY  HORSE."  431 

assist  in  breaking  down  the  threatened  uprising,  and  showed  a 
very  competent  understanding  of  the  gravity  of  the  situation. 

"  Crazy  Horse  "  broke  away  during  the  night  of  the  3d  of  Sep 
tember,  but  was  unable  to  get  away  from  the  column  in  pursuit, 
whose  work  may  perhaps  be  best  described  in  the  language  of 
General  L.  P.  Bradley,  Ninth  Infantry,  commanding  the  district 
of  the  Black  Hills,  which  embraced  the  posts  of  Laramie,  Fetter- 
man,  Robinson,  and  Sheridan. 

"  General  Crook  left  here  on  the  morning  of  the  4th,  and, 
under  his  instructions,  I  sent  out  a  strong  force  about  9  o'clock 
of  that  date  to  surround  ' Crazy  Horse's'  village,  about  six  miles 
below  the  post.  The  column  consisted  of  eight  companies  of  the 
Third  Cavalry,  and  about  four  hundred  friendly  Indians.  The 
Indian  scouts  were  under  Lieutenant  Clarke  ;  the  other  In 
dians  under  chiefs  '  Red  Cloud,'  ( Little  Wound,'  '  American 
Horse,'  '  Young  Man  Afraid  of  His  Horses,'  '  Yellow  Bear,' 
'  Black  Coal,'  '  Big  Road,'  '  Jumping  Shield,'  and  '  Sharp  Nose.' 
The  cavalry  were  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Mason,  Third 
Cavalry.  When  the  command  reached  the  site  of  the  village, 
they  found  it  had  broken  up  in  the  night,  and  most  of  it  had 
disappeared.  A  part  of  the  lodges  returned  to  the  agency  of 
their  own  accord  and  joined  the  friendly  bands,  a  large  number 
were  overtaken  by  the  friendly  Indians  and  brought  back,  and  a 
few  went  to  the  Spotted  Tail  Agency.  '  Crazy  Horse  '  escaped 
alone  and  went  to  the  Spotted  Tail  Agency,  where  he  was 
arrested  the  same  day  by  friendly  Indians  and  was  brought  here 
under  guard  of  Indians  on  the  5th  instant.  My  orders  from 
General  Crook  were  to  capture  this  chief,  confine  him,  and  send 
him  under  guard  to  Omaha.  When  he  was  put  in  the  guard 
house  he  suddenly  drew  a  knife,  struck  at  the  guard,  and  made 
for  the  door.  (  Little  Big  Man,'  one  of  his  own  chiefs,  grappled 
with  him,  and  was  cut  in  the  arm  by  '  Crazy  Horse '  during  the 
struggle.  The  two  chiefs  were  surrounded  by  the  guard,  and 
about  this  time  'Crazy  Horse '  received  a  severe  wound  in  the 
lower  part  of  the  abdomen,  either  from  a  knife  or  bayonet,  the 
surgeons  are  in  doubt  which.  He  was  immediately  removed,  and 
placed  in  charge  of  the  surgeons,  and  died  about  midnight.  His 
father  and  <  Touch  the  Clouds,'  chief  of  the  Sans  Arcs,  re 
mained  with  him  till  he  died,  and  when  his  breath  ceased,  the 
chief  laid  his  hand  on  '  Crazy  Horse's '  breast  and  said  :  ( It  is 


422          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

good  ;  he  has  looked  for  death,  and  it  has  come/  The  body  was 
delivered  to  his  friends  the  morning  after  his  death.  '  Crazy 
Horse '  and  his  friends  were  assured  that  no  harm  was  intended 
him,,  and  the  chiefs  who  were  with  him  are  satisfied  that  none 
was  intended  ;  his  death  resulted  from  his  own  violence.  The 
leading  men  of  his  band,  '  Big  Road,'  'Jumping  Shield/  and 
'  Little  Big  Man/  are  satisfied  that  his  death  is  the  result  of  his 
own  folly,  and  they  are  on  friendly  terms  with  us." 

The  chiefs  spoken  of  in  General  Bradley's  telegram  as  accom 
panying  "  Crazy  Horse"  were:  "Touch  the  Clouds,"  "Swift 
Bear,"  and  "High  Bear."  All  accounts  agree  in  stating  that 
"  Crazy  Horse  "  suddenly  drew  two  knives,  and  with  one  in  each 
hand  started  to  run  amuck  among  the  officers  and  soldiers. 
"Little  Big  Man,"  seeing  what  he  had  done,  jumped  upon 
"  Crazy  Horse's"  back  and  seized  his  arms  at  the  elbows,  receiv 
ing  two  slight  cuts  in  the  wrists  while  holding  his  hands  down. 
Here,  there  is  a  discrepancy  :  some  say  that  the  death  wound 
of  "Crazy  Horse"  was  given  by  the  sentinel  at  the  door  of  the 
guard-house,  who  prodded  him  in  the  abdomen  with  his  bayonet 
in  return  for  the  thrust  with  a  knife  made  by  "  Crazy  Horso  "; 
others  affirm  that  "  Little  Big  Man,"  while  holding  down  "  Crazy 
Horse's"  hands,  deflected  the  latter's  own  poniard  and  inflicted 
the  gash  which  resulted  in  death.  Billy  Hunter,  whose  state 
ment  was  written  out  for  me  by  Lieutenant  George  A.  Dodd, 
Third  Cavalry,  is  one  of  the  strongest  witnesses  on  the  first  side, 
but  "  Little  Big  Man"  himself  assured  me  at  the  Sun  Dance  in 
1881  that  he  had  unintentionally  killed  "  Crazy  Horse "  with 
the  latter's  own  weapon,  which  was  shaped  at  the  end  like  a  bay 
onet  (stiletto),  and  made  the  very  same  kind  of  a  wound.  He  de 
scribed  how  he  jumped  on  "  Crazy  Horse's  "  back  and  seized  his 
arms  at  the  elbow,  and  showed  how  he  himself  had  received  two 
wounds  in  the  left  wrist ;  after  that,  in  the  struggle,  the  stiletto 
of  the  captive  was  inclined  in  such  a  manner  that  when  he  still 
struggled  he  cut  himself  in  the  abdomen  instead  of  harming  the 
one  who  held  him  in  his  grasp.  "Little  Big  Man"  further 
assured  me  that  at  first  it  was  thought  best  to  let  the  idea  prevail 
that  a  soldier  had  done  the  killing,  and  thus  reduce  the  proba 
bility  of  any  one  of  the  dead  man's  relatives  revenging  his  taking 
off  after  the  manner  of  the  aborigines.  The  bayonet-thrust  made 
by  the  soldier  was  received  by  the  door  of  the  guard-house,  where 


THE  GRAVE  OF   "CRAZY   HORSE."  423 

"  Little  Big  Man  "  said  it  could  still  be  seen.     I  give  both  stories, 
although  I  incline  strongly  to  believe  "  Little  Big  Man." 

"  Crazy  Horse"  was  one  of  the  great  soldiers  of  his  day  and 
generation  ;  he  never  could  be  the  friend  *of  the  whites,  because 
he  was  too  bold  and  warlike  in  his  nature  ;  he  had  a  great  ad 
miration  for  Crook,  which  was  reciprocated  ;  once  he  said  of 
Crook  that  he  was  more  to  be  feared  by  the  Sioux  than  all  other 
white  men.  As  the  grave  of  Custer  marked  high-water  mark  of 
Sioux  supremacy  in  the  trans-Missouri  region,  so  the  grave  of 
"  Crazy  Horse, "  a  plain  fence  of  pine  slabs,  marked  the  ebb. 


CHAPTEE    XXV. 

THE  MANAGEMENT  OF  THE  INDIAN  AGENCIES — AGENT  MAC- 
GILLICUDDY'S  WONDERFUL  WORK — CROOK'S  REMAINING 
DAYS  IN  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  PLATTE — THE  BAN 
NOCK,  UTE,  NEZ  PERCE,  AND  CHEYENNE  OUTBREAKS — THE 
KILLING  OF  MAJOR  THORNBURGH  AND  CAPTAIN  WEIR — 
MERRITT'S  FAMOUS  MARCH  AGAINST  TIME — HOW  THE  DEAD 
CAME  TO  LIFE  AND  WALKED — THE  CASE  OF  THE  PONCAS — 
CROOK'S  HUNTS  AND  EXPLORATIONS  ;  NEARLY  FROZEN  TO 
DEATH  IN  A  BLIZZARD — A  NARROW  ESCAPE  FROM  AN  ANGRY 
SHE-BEAR — CATCHING  NEBRASKA  HORSE-THIEVES — "  DOC  " 
MIDDLETON'S  GANG. 

A  FTER  Doctor  Irwin  the  Indians  at  Red  Cloud  had  as 
-£^-  agent  Doctor  V.  T.  MacGrillicuddy,  whose  peculiar  fit 
ness  for  the  onerous  and  underpaid  responsibilities  of  the  posi 
tion  brought  him  deserved  recognition  all  over  the  western  coun 
try,  as  one  of  the  most  competent  representatives  the  Indian 
Bureau  had  ever  sent  beyond  the  Missouri.  Two  or  three  times 
I  looked  into  affairs  at  his  agency  very  closely,  and  was  surprised 
both  at  the  immense  amount  of  supplies  on  hand — running  above 
a  million  pounds  of  flour  and  other  parts  of  the  ration  in  pro 
portion — and  the  perfect  system  with  which  they  were  distributed 
and  accounted  for.  There  were  then  eight  thousand  Indians  of 
both  sexes  at  the  agency  or  on  the  reserve,  and  the  basis  of  sup 
plies  was  either  Pierre,  in  Dakota,  on  the  Missouri,  or  Sidney, 
Nebraska,  on  the  Union  Pacific ;  the  former  two  hundred  and 
the  latter  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  distant.  MacGilli- 
cuddy  was  kept  on  the  go  all  the  time  from  morning  till  night, 
and  managed  to  do  the  work  of  twenty  men.  His  salary  was 
the  munificent  sum  of  twenty-two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per 
annum.  I  could  not  help  saying  to  myself  that  this  man  was  car 
rying  upon  his  shoulders  the  weight  of  a  force  equal  to  one-third 
the  United  States  Army  ;  were  he  in  the  army,  MacGillicuddy 


DOCTOR  MACGILLICUDDY.  425 

would  have  been  a  major-general,  surrounded  by  a  high-priced 
staff,  dividing  the  work  and  relieving  him  of  nearly  all  care  ;  he 
would  have  had  three  aides-de-camp,  too  frequently  his  own  rela 
tions,  each  getting  from  the  Government  a  better  salary  than  the 
agent  of  this  great  concourse  of  savages  was  receiving.  Mac- 
Gillicuddy  was  expected  and  required  to  keep  his  wards  at  peace, 
feed  and  clothe  them  in  health,  see  that  they  received  proper 
medical  attendance  while  sick,  encourage  them  in  habits  of  in 
dustry,  especially  farming  and  cattle-raising,  prepare  all  kinds  of 
accounts  for  the  information  of  his  bureau,  and  in  his  moments 
of  leisure  instruct  the  aborigines  in  the  Catechism  and  Testa 
ment.  In  this  matter  of  Indian  agents,  as  in  all  that  pertains 
to  Indian  affairs,  the  great  trouble  is  that  the  American  people 
have  so  little  common  sense.  Let  the  salaries  paid  to  agents  be 
raised  to  such  a  standard  that  the  position  will  be  an  inducement 
for  first-class  men  to  consider,  and  there  will  not  be  so  much 
trouble  in  getting  an  honest  administration,  if  there  should  be 
coupled  a  good-conduct  tenure,  subject  to  the  approval  of  some 
such  organization  as  the  Indian  Eights  Association.  Civil 
Service  Reform  may  well  be  introduced  in  the  Indian  service. 

Of  the  other  services  rendered  by  General  Crook  while  in  com 
mand  of  the  Department  of  the  Platte  there  is  no  room  to  speak. 
Much  of  the  highest  importance  and  greatest  interest  happened 
under  his  administration,  and  it  is  needless  to  say  that  all  which 
devolved  upon  him  to  do  was  done  well,  done  quietly,  done 
without  nourish  of  trumpets,  and  without  the  outside  world 
learning  niuch  about  it.  In  the  line  of  military  operations,  there 
was  the  trouble  with  the  Cheyennes  who  broke  out  from  the  In 
dian  Territory  during  the  summer  of  1878,  and  fought  their  way 
across  three  military  departments  to  the  Tongue  River,  where  they 
surrendered  to  their  old  commanding  officer,  Lieutenant  William 
P.  Clarke,  Second  Cavalry.  There  was  the  nipping  in  the  bud 
of  the  outbreak  among  the  Shoshones  and  Bannocks,  principally 
the  latter,  led  by  "  Tindoy  "  and  "  Buffalo  Horn,"  both  of  whom 
were  personally  well  known  to  Crook,  who  used  his  influence 
with  them  to  such  advantage  that  they  remained  at  peace  until 
the  aggressions  of  the  whites  became  too  great  and  drove  them 
out  upon  the  war-path.  These  Indians  did  not,  properly  speak 
ing,  belong  to  General  Crook's  department,  but  lived  on  the  ex 
treme  northwestern  corner  of  it  in  a  chain  of  almost  inaccessible 


426          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

mountains  in  central  Idaho.  There  was  the  Ute  outbreak,  dating 
back  to  inadequate  rations  and  failure  to  keep  pledges.  The  Utes 
were  not  of  Crook's  department,  but  it  was  a  battalion  of  the 
Third  and  Fifth  Cavalry  and  Fourth  Infantry,  which  moved 
out  from  Rawlins,  Wyoming,  under  Major  Thornburgh,  Fourth 
Infantry,  to  save  the  agency  and  the  lives  of  the  employees ;  and, 
after  poor  Thornburgh  had  been  sacrificed,  'it  was  Merritt's  column 
which  made  the  wonderful  march  of  one  hundred  and  sixty 
miles  in  two  and  a  half  days  to  rescue  the  survivors  in  the  "  rat- 
hole  "  on  Milk  River. 

Merritt  had  been  preceded  by  a  company  of  the  Ninth  Cavalry, 
commanded  by  Captain  Dodge  and  Lieutenant  M.  B.  Hughes, 
who  had  aided  the  beleaguered  garrison  to  withstand  the  attack 
of  the  Utes  till  the  arrival  of  re-enforcements.  The  concentra 
tion  of  cars  and  the  clearing  of  obstacles  from  the  track  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad  imposed  a  great  tax  upon  the  shoulders 
of  its  principal  officials,  Mr.  S.  H.  Clark  and  Mr.  T.  L.  Kimball, 
but  they  were  found  equal  to  every  demand  made  upon  them 
and  turned  over  their  track  to  General  Williams  and  Colonel 
Ludington,  the  two  staff  officers  charged  with  aiding  the  Merritt 
expedition.  In  the  campaign,  we  lost  Thornburgh  and  Weir, 
killed — two  noble  soldiers  whom  the  country  could  ill  afford 
to  lose ;  and  had  a  number  of  men  killed  and  wounded  and 
several  officers  badly  hurt — Grimes,  Paddock,  Payne,  and 
Cherry. 

A  very  singular  thing  occurred  during  the  time  that  the 
troops  were  besieged  behind  their  feeble  rifle-pits  down  in  the 
hollow.  One  of  the  first  to  be  struck  was  the  blacksmith  of 
the  citizen  train  which  had  moved  out  from  Fort  Fred  Steele 
under  Lieutenant  Butler  D.  Price,  Fourth  Infantry  ;  his  corpse, 
without  wasting  ceremony,  was  rolled  up  in  place  and  made  to 
do  its  part  in  supplying  protection  to  the  soldiers  ;  a  piece  of 
canvas  was  thrown  over  it,  and  in  the  excitement  and  danger  the 
dead  man  was  forgotten.  When  Merritt/s  column  arrived  on  the 
ground,  the  trumpeter  alongside  of  him  was  ordered  to  sound 
"  Officers'  Call,"  upon  hearing  which  the  invested  troops  sprang 
upon  the  earthworks  and  gave  cheer  after  cheer.  It  may  have 
been  the  noise — it  may  have  been  something  else — but  at  any 
rate  there  was  a  movement  at  one  end  of  the  rifle-pits,  and 
slowly  and  feebly  from  under  the  overlying  clay  and  canvas,  the 


THE  CASE  OF  THE  PONCAS.  427 

dead  man  arose,  shook  himself,  put  his  hand  wearily  to  his  head, 
and  asked  :  "My  God,  what's  the  matter,  boys?"  Then  he 
staggered  about,  many  of  the  men  afraid  to  touch  him,  or  even 
go  near  him,  and  in  a  few  moments  was  dead  in  good  earnest. 
The  explanation  made  by  Doctor  Grimes  was  that,  in  the  first 
place,  the  man  had  been  shot  through  the  head  at  the  inter 
section  or  junction  of  the  jaws  just  under  the  brain  ;  the  shock 
had  knocked  him  senseless,  and  the  blood  spurting  from  the 
ghastly  wound  had  led  the  soldiers  to  conclude  somewhat  hastily 
that  he  was  dead  ;  the  slip  of  canvas  carelessly  thrown  over  the 
body  had  preserved  it  from  being  suffocated  by  the  earth 
scraped  against  it ;  the  wound  was  so  near  the  brain  that  it 
would  have  been  impossible  to  avoid  inflammation  of  the  latter 
organ,  and  when  this  set  in,  the  victim  fell  dead. 

The  case  of  the  Poncas  was,  beyond  question,  the  most  im 
portant  one  occurring  within  General  Crook's  jurisdiction  after 
the  pacification  of  the  Sioux.  I  do  not  purpose  entering  into  all 
its  ramifications,  which  would  be  entirely  too  tedious  for  the 
reader,  but  it  may  be  summed  up  in  a  nutshell.  The  Poncas 
were  a  small  band  of  Siouan  stock,  closely  affiliated  to  the 
Omahas,  who  lived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Niobrara,  on  the  Mis 
souri  Kiver.  They  had  a  reservation  which,  unluckily  for  them, 
was  arable  and  consequently  coveted  by  the  wh^te  invader.  From 
this  they  were  bulldozed  by  officials  of  the  Government  and 
transported  to  the  Indian  Territory,  where  malaria  and  other 
disorders,  complicated  with  homesickness,  depleted  their  num 
bers,  and  made  them  all  anxious  to  return  to  the  old  land.  Ap 
plication  for  permission  to  do  this  was  refused,  and  thereupon  a 
portion  of  the  band  tried  the  experiment  of  going  at  their  own 
expense  across  country,  walking  every  foot  of  the  way,  molesting 
nobody,  arid  subsisting  upon  charity.  Not  a  shot  was  fired  at 
any  one ;  not  so  much  as  a  dog  was  stolen.  The  western  country 
was  at  that  time  filled  with  white  tramps  by  thousands,  whose 
presence  excited  no  comment;  but  the  spectacle  of  nearly  two 
hundred  Indians  going  along  peaceably  back  to  their  old  habitat 
to  seek  work  and  earn  their  own  bread,  was  too  much  for  the 
equilibrium  of  the  authorities  in  Washington.  One  of  the  In 
dians  was  carrying  a  sack  tied  by  a  string  to  his  neck ;  it  con 
tained  the  bones  of  a  beloved  grandchild — not  a  very  heinous 


428         ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

offence  in  itself,  but  having  been  committed  by  a  man  whose 
skin  was  wrinkled  and  red,  and  whose  people  had  for  generations 
been  the  consistent  friends  of  the  white  race,  it  was  tantamount 
to  felony. 

To  make  a  long  story  short,  some  people  in  Omaha  began  talk 
ing  about  the  peculiarities  presented  in  this  case  of  the  Omahas, 
and  wondering  why  they  had  been  arrested  by  the  military 
authorities.  Lieutenant  W.  L.  Carpenter,  Ninth  Infantry,  had 
them  under  his  charge  at  Fort  Omaha,  and  gave  them  an  excel 
lent  character  for  sobriety  and  good  behavior  of  every  kind. 
Public  sympathy  became  aroused;  meetings  were  held,  one  of 
the  first,  if  not  the  first,  being  that  in  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
conducted  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Harsha  and  Eev.  Mr.  Sherrill,  and 
it  was  determined  to  bring  the  matter  before  the  United  States 
court  upon  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  to  ascertain  by  what  right 
these  people  were  restrained  of  their  liberty.  Competent  lawyers 
were  enlisted,  and  the  case  was  taken,  up  by  the  Hon.  A.  J. 
Poppleton  and  Hon.  J.  L.  Webster,  two  of  the  most  prominent 
members  of  the  bar  in  Nebraska.  Dr.  George  L.  Miller,  in 
the  Herald,  and  Mr.  Edward  Rosewater,  in  the  Bee,  and  such 
citizens  as  the  late  Judge  Savage,  Bishop  O'Connor,  Rev.  John 
Williams,  and  Bishop  Clarkson  brought  much  influence  to  bear ; 
and  by  the  time  that  Judge  Dundy's  court  had  convened  the 
attention  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  was  to  some  extent 
converged  upon  the  trial,  which  was  simply  to  determine  the 
momentous  question  whether  or  not  an  American  Indian  who 
had  never  been  upon  the  war-path  could  sever  his  tribal  relations 
and  go  to  work  for  his  own  living.  Judge  Dundy's  decision  was 
to  the  effect  that  he  could  ;  and  the  path  of  citizenship  was 
opened  for  the  Indian. 

Mrs.  "  Bright  Eyes"  Tibbies,  an  Omaha  Indian  lady  of  excel 
lent  attainments  and  bright  intellect,  and  her  husband,  Mr.  J.  H. 
Tibbies,  editor  of  the  Omaha  Republican,  took  up  the  cudgels, 
and  travelled  through  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States,  addressing 
large  concourses  in  all  the  principal  towns  and  cities,  and  awaken 
ing  an  intelligent  and  potent  interest  in  the  advancement  of  the 
native  tribes  which  has  not  yet  abated.  President  Hayes  ap 
pointed  a  commission,  to  consist  of  General  George  Crook, 
General  Nelson  A.  Miles,  Messrs.  Stickney  and  Walter  Allen, 
and  the  Rev.  J.  Owen  Dorsey,  to  look  into  the  general  sub- 


GENERAL  CROOK'S  HUNTING  EXPLOITS.  429 

ject  of  the  condition  and  prospects  of  the  Poncas  ;  and  as  the 
result  of  this  the  members  of  the  band  who  had  returned  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Mobrara  were  permitted  to  remain  there  unmo 
lested. 

To  incorporate  herein  an  account  of  the  explorations  and 
hunts  upon  which  General  Crook  engaged  while  in  command  of 
the  Department  of  the  Platte,  after  the  Indians  had  been  reduced 
to  submission,  would  be  tantamount  to  a  description  of  the  topog 
raphy  of  the  country  west  of  the  Missouri  up  to  and  including 
the  head-waters  of  the  Columbia,  and  north  and  south  from  the 
Yellowstone  Park  to  the  Grand  Canon  of  the  Colorado,  and 
would  swell  in  volume  until  it  would  include  a  description  of  the 
methods  of  catching  or  killing  every  fish  that  swam  in  the  streams^ 
every  bird  that  floated  in  the  air,  and  every  wild  animal  that 
made  its  lair  or  burrow  within  those  limits.  Ducks,  geese,  tur 
keys,  sage  hens,  prairie  chickens ;  pike,  pickerel,  catfish,  trout, 
salmon-trout,  and  whitefish  ;  elk,  deer,  moose,  antelope,  mountain 
sheep ;  bears,  wolverines,  badgers,  coyotes,  mountain  wolves — all 
yielded  tribute  to  his  rod  or  rifle.  He  kept  adding  to  his  collec 
tion  of  stuffed  birds  and  eggs  until  there  was  no  man  in  the 
country  who  possessed  a  more  intimate  practical  knowledge  of  the 
habits  of  the  fauna  and  flora  of  the  vast  region  beyond  the  Mis 
souri.  As  he  made  these  journeys  on  horse  or  mule  back,  there 
was  no  man  who  could  pretend  to  compare  with  him  in  an 
acquaintance  with  the  trails  and  topography  of  the  country  off 
from  the  lines  of  railroad,  and  only  one — General  Sherman — 
who  could  compare  in  a  general  knowledge  of  the  area  of  the 
United  States.  Sherman,  while  General  of  the  army,  was  a  great 
traveller,  constantly  on  the  go,  but  nearly  all  of  his  trips  were 
made  by  rail  or  in  stage-coach,  and  but  few  by  other  methods. 

In  company  with  General  Sheridan,  General  Sackett,  and 
General  Forsyth,  General  Crook  travelled  across  the  then  un 
known  territory  between  the  Wind  River  and  the  Big  Horn  to 
the  Tongue  River,  then  down  to  the  Custer  battle-field,  and  by 
steamer  from  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Horn  to  the  Yellowstone, 
and  down  the  Missouri  to  Bismarck.  In  company  with  the  Hon. 
Carl  Schurz,  then  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  he  explored  all  the 
Yellowstone  Park,  and  viewed  its  wonders — the  exquisite  lake,  the 
lofty  precipices  of  the  canon,  the  placid  flow  of  the  beautiful 
river,  and  its  sudden  plunge  over  the  falls  into  the  depths  below, 


430          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

the  eruptions  of  the  geysers,  the  immense  mass  of  waters  con 
tained  in  the  springs,  the  pits  of  boiling  sulphur,  the  solid  wall 
of  forest  of  so  many  varieties  of  timber,  the  dainty  flowers,  the 
schools  of  trout,  the  shady  nooks  in  the  hill-sides  resounding  to 
the  footfall  of  black-tail,  elk,  or  bear,  the  lofty  cones,  snow- 
crusted,  reflecting  back  the  rays  of  the  summer  sun — all  the 
beauties,  oddities,  and  marvels  which  combine  to  make  the 
National  Park  a  fairyland  to  dwell  forever  in  the  dreams  of 
those  who  have  the  good  fortune  to  enter  its  precincts.  With  all 
the  cafions,  passes,  peaks,  and  trails  of  the  Wahsatch,  Uintah, 
Medicine  Bow,  Laramie,  and  other  ranges  he  was  as  familiar  as 
with  his  alphabet. 

He  was  not  always  so  prudent  as  he  should  have  been  while 
out  on  these  trips,  and  several  times  had  very  close  calls  for  death. 
Once,  while  shooting  wild  geese  on  one  of  the  little  tributaries 
of  the  Platte,  he  was  caught  in  a  blizzard,  and  while  trying  to 
make  his  way  back  to  his  comrades,  stepped  into  an  air-hole,  and 
would  have  been  drowned  had  it  not  been  for  the  heroic  exertions 
of  Mr.  John  Collins  and  the  late  Mr.  A.  E.  Touzalin.  He  had 
more  adventures  than  I  can  count,  with  bears  of  all  kinds  and 
with  maddened,  wounded  stags.  Once,  while  hunting  in  the 
range  known  as  the  Three  Tetons,  he  stationed  his  party  so  as  to 
cut  off  the  retreat  of  a  very  large  bear  which  had  taken  refuge 
in  a  tule  thicket  or  swamp;  the  enraged  animal  rushed  out  on 
the  side  where  Crook  was,  and  made  straight  towards  him,  mouth 
wide  open  and  eyes  blazing  fire  ;  Crook  allowed  Bruin  to  come 
within  ten  feet,  and  then,  without  the  quiver  of  a  muscle  or  the 
tremor  of  a  nerve,  fired  and  lodged  a  rifle-ball  in  the  back  of  the 
throat,  not  breaking  out  through  the  skull,  but  shattering  its 
base  and  severing  the  spinal  cord.  It  was  a  beautiful  animal, 
and  Crook  was  always  justifiably  proud  of  the  rug. 

For  eight  or  nine  years,  Mr.  Webb  C.  Hayes,  of  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  hunted  with  Crook,  and  probably  knows  more  of  his  en 
counters  with  ursine  monsters  than  any  living  man,  not  except 
ing  Tom  Moore.  Mr.  Hayes  became  a  renowned  bear-hunter 
himself,  and  is  well  known  in  all  the  mountains  close  to  the 
Three  Tetons.  In  addition  to  being  an  excellent  shot,  he  is  a 
graceful  runner ;  I  remember  seeing  him  make  a  half-mile  dash 
down  the  side  of  a  mountain  with  a  bear  cub  at  his  heels,  and 
the  concurrence  of  opinion  of  all  in  camp  was  that  the  physical 


JUDGE  CARTER'S  "BALM  OF  LIFE."        431 

culture  of  Cornell  University  was  a  great  thing.  General  Crook 
became  prominently  identified  with  the  Omaha  Gun  Club,  which 
included  in  its  membership  such  crack  shots  as  the  late  Major 
T.  T.  Thornburgh  (afterwards  killed  by  the  Utes),  Messrs.  Barri- 
ger,  Collins,  Coffman,  Parmlee,  Patrick,  Petty,  and  others.  In 
all  their  hunts  General  Crook  participated,  as  well  as  in  the  fish 
ing  expeditions  organized  by  such  inveterate  anglers  as  T.  L. 
Kimball,  Frank  Moores  and  the  late  Judge  Carter,  of  Wyoming, 
whose  home  at  Fort  Bridger  offered  every  comfort  to  his  friends 
that  could  be  found  in  a  great  city. 

Carter  was  a  man  of  means  and  the  most  hospitable,  generous 
instincts.  He  was  never  content  unless  his  house  was  filled 
with  guests,  for  whom  nothing  was  too  good,  provided  they 
humored  his  whimsical  notion  that  a  certain  patent  medicine, 
called  "The  Balm  of  Life,"  was  a  panacea  for  every  ill. 
Judge  Carter  had  entered  the  far  western  country  near  Fort 
Bridger  with  the  expedition  sent  out  to  Utah  under  General 
Albert  Sydney  Johnston,  although  I  am  not  absolutely  sure 
as  to  the  exact  time,  and  had  remained  and  accumulated  means, 
principally  from  the  increase  of  his  herds,  which  might  truly 
have  been  styled  the  cattle  upon  a  thousand  hills.  The  last 
time  I  saw  this  grand-looking  old  patriarch  was  at  a  very 
substantial  breakfast,  served  in  his  own  princely  style,  where 
the  venison,  mountain  mutton,  and  broiled  trout  would  have 
evoked  praise  from  Lucullus,  but  after  which — much  as  the 
Egyptians  introduced  images  of  mummies  at  their  banquets — 
Ludington,  Bisbee,  Stan  ton,  McEldree,  and  I  had  to  face  the 
ordeal  of  being  dosed  with  the  "  Balm  of  Life,"  which  came 
near  being  the  Balm  of  Death  for  some  of  us. 

In  the  great  riots  of  1877,  and  again  in  1882,  Crook's  energies 
were  severely  taxed  for  the  protection  of  the  Government  prop 
erty  along  the  line  of  the  Union  Pacific  Eailroad,  but  he  per 
formed  the  duty  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  classes.  The  hand 
some,  stately,  soldierly  figure  of  the  late  General  John  H.  King, 
Colonel  of  the  Ninth  Infantry,  rises  up  in  my  memory  in  this 
connection.  He  rendered  most  valuable  and  efficient  service 
during  the  periods  in  question.  Similarly,  in  running  down  and 
scattering  the  robber  bands  of  Doctor  Middleton,  and  other 
horse-thieves  in  the  Loup  country,  in  northwestern  Nebraska,  the 
intelligent  work  performed  by  General  Crook,  Captain  Munson, 


432          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

and  Lieutenant  Capron  was  well  understood  and  gratefully 
recognized  by  all  who  were  acquainted  with  it.  Nebraska  had 
reason  to  feel  indebted  for  the  destruction  of  one  of  the  most 
desperate  gangs,  led  by  a  leader  of  unusual  nerve  and  intelli 
gence — the  celebrated  "  Doc."  Middleton,  who  was  wounded  and 
captured  by  Deputy  United  States  Marshal  Llewellyn. 


CHAPTER     XXVI. 

CROOK  RE-ASSIGNED  TO  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  ARIZONA — ALL 
THE  APACHES  ON  THE  WAR-PATH — LIEUTENANTS  MORGAN 
AND  CONVERSE  WOUNDED  —  CAPTAIN  HENTIG  KILLED — • 
CROOK  GOES  ALONE  TO  SEE  THE  HOSTILES — CONFERENCES 
WITH  THE  APACHES — WHAT  THE  ARIZONA  GRAND  JURY 
SAID  OF  AN  INDIAN  AGENT — CONDITION  OF  AFFAIRS  AT 
THE  SAN  CARLOS  AGENCY—WHISKEY  SOLD  TO  THE  CHIRI- 
CAHUA  APACHES — APACHE  TRIALS  BY  JURY— ARIZONA  IN 
1882 — PHO3NIX,  PRESCOTT,  AND  TUCSON — INDIAN  SCHOOLS. 

BEFORE  the  summer  of  1882  had  fairly  begun,  Indian  affairs 
in  Arizona  had  relapsed  into  such  a  deplorable  condition 
that  the  President  felt  obliged  to  re-assign  General  Crook  to  the 
command.  To  the  occurrences  of  the  next  four  years  I  will 
devote  very  few  paragraphs,  because,  although  they  formed 
an  epoch  of  great  importance  in  our  Indo-military  history 
and  in  General  Crook's  career,  they  have  previously  received  a 
fair  share  of  my  attention  in  the  volume,  (e  An  Apache  Cam 
paign/'  to  which  there  is  little  to  add.  But  for  the  sake  of 
rounding  out  this  narrative  and  supplying  data  to  those  who 
may  not  have  seen  the  book  in  question,  it  may  be  stated  that 
affairs  had  steadily  degenerated  from  bad  to  worse,  and  that  upon 
Crook's  return  to  Prescott  no  military  department  could  well 
have  been  in  a  more  desperate  plight.  In  one  word,  all  the 
Apaches  were  again  on  the  war-path  or  in  such  a  sullen,  dis 
trustful  state  of  mind  that  it  would  have  been  better  in  some 
sense  had  they  all  left  the  reservation  and  taken  to  the  forests 
and  mountains. 

Crook  was  in  the  saddle  in  a  day,  and  without  even  stopping  to 
inquire  into  the  details  of  the  new  command — with  which,  how 
ever,  he  was  to  a  great  extent  familiar  from  his  former  experience — 
he  left  the  arrangement  of  such  matters  to  his  Adjutant- General, 
Colonel  James  P.  Martin,  and  started  across  the  mountains 
28 


434         ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

to  Camp  Apache.  Not  many  of  the  Apaches  were  to  be  seen,  and 
practically  none  except  the  very  old,  the  very  feeble,  or  the  very 
young.  All  the  young  men  who  could  shoot  were  hiding  in  the 
mountains,  and  several  sharp  actions  had  already  been  had  with 
the  troops  :  the  Third  and  Sixth  Cavalry  had  had  a  fight  with 
the  renegades  from  the  reservation,  and  had  had  two  officers — 
Morgan  and  Converse,  of  the  Third — severely  wounded  ;  Captain 
Hen  tig,  of  the  Sixtft,  had  been  killed  on  the  Cibicu  some  months 
before ;  and  the  prospects  of  peace,  upon  a  permanent  and  satis 
factory  basis,  were  extremely  vague  and  unpromising.  But 
there  was  a  coincidence  of  sentiment  among  all  people  whose 
opinion  was  worthy  of  consultation,  that  the  blame  did  not  rest 
with  the  Indians  ;  curious  tales  were  flying  about  from  mouth  to 
mouth,  of  the  gross  outrages  perpetrated  upon  the  men  and 
women  who  were  trying  faithfully  to  abide  in  peace  with  the 
whites.  It  was  openly  asserted  that  the  Apaches  were  to  be 
driven  from  the  reservation  marked  out  for  them  by  Vincent 
Collyer  and  General  0.  0.  Howard,  upon  which  they  had  been 
living  for  more  than  eleven  years.  No  one  had  ever  heard  the 
Apaches'  story,  and  no  one  seemed  to  care  whether  they  had  a 
story  or  not. 

Crook  made  every  preparation  for  a  resumption  of  hostilities, 
but  he  sent  out  word  to  the  men  skulking  in  the  hills  that  he 
was  going  out  alone  to  see  them  and  hear  what  they  had  to  say, 
and  that  if  no  killing  of  white  people  occurred  in  the  meantime, 
not  a  shot  should  be  fired  by  the  troops.  In  acting  as  he  did  at 
this  time,  Crook  lost  a  grand  opportunity  for  gaining  what  is 
known  as  military  glory  :  he  could  have  called  for  additional 
troops  and  obtained  them  ;  the  papers  of  the  country  would  have 
devoted  solid  columns  to  descriptions  of  skirmishes  and  marches 
and  conferences,  what  the  military  commander  thought  and 
said,  with  perhaps  a  slight  infiltration  of  what  he  did  not  think 
and  did  not  say ;  but,  in  any  event,  Crook  would  have  been  kept 
prominently  before  the  people.  His  was  not,  however,  a  nature 
which  delighted  in  the  brass-band-and-bugle  school  of  military 
renown  :  he  was  modest  and  retiring,  shy  almost  as  a  girl,  and 
conscientious  to  a  peculiar  degree.  He  had  every  confidence  in 
his  own  purposes  and  in  his  own  powers,  and  felt  that  if  not 
interfered  with  he  could  settle  the  Apache  problem  at  a  minimum 
of  cost.  Therefore  he  set  out  to  meet  the  Apaches  in  their  own 


GENERAL  CROOK'S  APACHE  CAMPAIGN.       435 

haunts  and  learn  all  they  had  to  say,  and  he  learned  much.  He 
took  with  him  Mr.  C.  E.  Cooley,  formerly  one  of  his  principal 
scouts,  who  was  to  act  as  interpreter  ;  Al  Seiber,  who  had  seen 
such  wonderful  service  in  that  country ;  Surgeon  J.  0.  Skinner  ; 
and  myself.  Captain  Wallace,  with  his  company  of  the  Sixth 
Cavalry,  remained  in  charge  of  the  pack-train. 

Upon  the  elevated  plateau  of  broken  basalt  which  separates  the 
current  of  the  White  Kiver  from  that  of  the  Black  there  is  a 
long  line  of  forest,  principally  cedar,  with  no  small  amount  of 
pine,  and  much  yucca,  soapweed,  Spanish  bayonet,  and  mescal. 
The  knot-holes  in  the  cedars  seemed  to  turn  into  gleaming  black 
eyes  ;  the  floating  black  tresses  of  dead  yucca  became  the  snaky 
locks  of  fierce  outlaws,  whose  lances  glistened  behind  the  shoots 
of  mescal  and  amole.  Twenty-six  of  these  warriors  followed  us 
down  to  our  bivouac  in  the  cation  of  the  "  Prieto,"  or  Black 
River,  and  there  held  a  conference  with  General  Crook,  to  whom 
they  related  their  grievances. 

Before  starting  out  from  Camp  Apache  General  Crook  had 
held  a  conference  with  such  of  the  warriors  as  were  still  there, 
among  whom  I  may  mention  "  Pedro, "  "  Cut-Mouth  Moses," 
"Alchise,"  <<  Uklenni,"  " Eskitisesla,"  "  Noqui-noquis,"  "Pel- 
tie/'  "Notsin,"  "Mosby,"  "Chile,"  "Eskiltie,"  and  some  forty 
others  of  both  sexes.  "  Pedro,"  who  had  always  been  a  firm  friend 
of  the  whites,  was  now  old  and  decrepit,  and  so  deaf  that  he  had 
to  employ  an  ear-trumpet.  This  use  of  an  ear-trumpet  by  a 
so-called  savage  Apache  struck  me  as  very  ludicrous,  but  a  week 
after  I  saw  at  San  Carlos  a  young  baby  sucking  vigorously  from 
a  rubber  tube  attached  to  a  glass  nursing-bottle.  The  world 
does  move. 

From  the  journal  of  this  conference,  I  will  make  one  or  two 
extracts  as  illustrative  of  General  Crook's  ideas  on  certain  seem 
ingly  unimportant  points,  and  as  giving  the  way  of  thinking 
and  the  manner  of  expression  of  the  Apaches. 

GENERAL  CROOK  :  "  I  want  to  have  all  that  you  say  here  go 
down  on  paper,  because  what  goes  down  on  paper  never  lies.  A 
man's  memory  may  fail  him,  but  what  the  paper  holds  will  be 
fresh  and  true  long  after  we  are  all  dead  and  forgotten.  This  will 
not  bring  back  the  dead,  but  what  is  put  down  on  this  paper  to 
day  may  help  the  living.  What  I  want  to  get  at  is  all  that  has 
happened  since  I  left  here  to  bring  about  this  trouble,  this  pres- 


436          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

ent  condition  of  affairs.  I  want  you  to  tell  the  truth  without 
fear,  and  to  tell  it  in  as  few  words  as  possible,  so  that  everybody 
can  read  it  without  trouble/' 

ALCHISE  :  "  When  you  left,  there  were  no  bad  Indians  out.  We 
were  all  content ;  everything  was  peace.  The  officers  you  had 
here  were  all  taken  away,  and  new  ones  came  in — a  different  kind. 
The  good  ones  must  all  have  been  taken  away  and  the  bad  ones 
sent  in  their  places.  We  couldn't  make  out  what  they  wanted  ; 
one  day  they  seemed  to  want  one  thing,  the  next  day  something 
else.  Perhaps  we  were  to  blame,  perhaps  they  were  ;  but,  anyhow, 
we  hadn't  any  confidence  in  them.  We  were  planting  our  own  corn 
and  melons  and  making  our  own  living.  The  agent  at  the  San 
Carlos  never  gave  us  any  rations,  but  we  didn't  mind  that,  as  we 
were  taking  care  of  ourselves.  One  day  the  agent  at  the  San  Carlos 
sent  up  and  said  that  we  must  give  up  our  own  country  and  our 
corn-patches  and  go  down  there  to  live,  and  he  sent  Indian  sol 
diers  to  seize  our  women  and  children  and  drive  us  all  down  to 
that  hot  land.  l  Uclenni  '  and  I  were  doing  all  we  could  to  help 
the  whites,  when  we  were  both  put  in  the  guard-house.  All 
that  I  have  ever  done  has  been  honest ;  I  have  always  been  true 
and  obeyed  orders.  I  made  campaigns  against  Apache- Yumas, 
Apache-Tontos,  Pinalenos,  and  all  kinds  of  people,  and  even  went 
against  my  own  people.  When  the  Indians  broke  out  at  the  San 
Carlos,  when  Major  Eandall  was  here,  I  helped  him  to  go  fight 
them ;  I  have  been  in  all  the  campaigns.  When  Major  Randall 
was  here  we  were  all  happy  ;  when  he  promised  a  thing  he  did  it ; 
when  he  said  a  word  he  meant  it ;  but  all  that  he  did  was  for  our 
own  good  and  we  believed  in  him  and  we  think  of  him  yet.  Where 
has  he  gone  ?  Why  don't  he  come  back  ?  Others  have  come  to 
see  us  since  he  left,  but  they  talk  to  us  in  one  way  and  act  in 
another,  and  we  can't  believe  what  they  say.  They  say  :  '  That 
man  is  bad,  and  that  man  is  bad.'  I  think  that  the  trouble  is, 
they  themselves  are  bad.  Oh,  where  is  my  friend  Randall— the 
captain  with  the  big  mustache  which  he  always  pulled  ?  Why 
don't  he  come  back  ?  He  was  my  brother,  and  I  think  of  him 
all  the  time." 

Old  "  Pedro"  talked  in  much  the  same  vein  :  "When  you 
(General  Crook)  were  here,  whenever  you  said  a  thing  we  knew 
that  it  was  true,  and  we  kept  it  in  our  minds.  When  Colonel 
Green  was  here,  our  women  and  children  were  happy  and  our 


ALCHISE'S  SPEECH.  437 

young  people  grew  up  contented.  And  I  remember  Brown, 
Bandall,  and  the  other  officers  who  treated  us  kindly  and  were  our 
friends.  I  used  to  be  happy  ;  now,  I  am  all  the  time  thinking 
and  crying,  and  I  say,  '  Where  is  old  Colonel  John  Green,  and 
Randall,  and  those  other  good  officers,  and  what  has  become  of 
them  ?  Where  have  they  gone  ?  Why  don't  they  come  back?' 
And  the  young  men  all  say  the  same  thing/' 

"  Pedro "  spoke  of  the  absurdity  of  arresting  Indians  for 
dancing,  as  had  been  done  in  the  case  of  the  "  medicine  man," 
"  Bobby-doklinny  " — of  which  he  had  much  to  say,  but  at  this 
moment  only  his  concluding  remarks  need  be  preserved  :  "  Often 
when  I  have  wanted  to  have  a  little  fun,  I  have  sent  word  to  all 
the  women  and  children  and  young  men  to  come  up  and  have  a 
dance  ;  other  people  have  done  the  same  thing  ;  I  have  never 
heard  that  there  was  any  harm  in  that  ;  but  that  campaign  was 
made  just  because  the  Indians  over  on  the  Cibicu  were  dancing. 
When  you  (General  Crook)  were  here  we  were  all  content  ;  but 
we  can't  understand  why  you  went  away.  Why  did  you  leave 
us  ?  Everything  was  all  right  while  you  were  here." 

A  matter  of  great  grievance  with  the  Apaches,  which  they 
could  not  understand,  being  nothing  but  ignorant  savages  and 
not  up  to  civilized  ways,  was  why  their  little  farms,  of  which  I 
will  speak  before  ending  this  volume,  should  be  destroyed — as 
they  were — and  why  their  cattle  and  horses  should  be  driven  off 
by  soldiers  and  citizens.  "  Severiano,"  the  interpreter,  who  was 
a  Mexican  by  birth,  taken  captive  in  early  youth,  and  living 
among  the  Apaches  all  his  life,  now  said  :  "A  lot  of  my  own 
cattle  were  taken  away  by  soldiers  and  citizens."  Had  the 
Apaches  had  a  little  more  sense  they  would  have  perceived  that 
the  whole  scheme  of  Caucasian  contact  with  the  American 
aborigines — at  least  the  Anglo-Saxon  part  of  it — has  been  based 
upon  that  fundamental  maxim  of  politics  so  beautifully  and  so 
tersely  enunciated  by  the  New  York  alderman — "The  ' boys' 
are  in  it  for  the  stuff."  The  "  Tucson  ring  "  was  determined  that 
no  Apache  should  be  put  to  the  embarrassment  of  working  for 
his  own  living  ;  once  let  the  Apaches  become  self-supporting,  and 
what  would  become  of  "the  boys"?  Therefore,  they  must  all 
be  herded  down  on  the  malaria-reeking  flats  of  the  San  Carlos, 
where  the  water  is  salt  and  the  air  poison,  and  one  breathes  a 
mixture  of  sand-blizzards  and  more  flies  than  were  ever  supposed 


438         ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

to  be  under  the  care  of  the  great  fly-god  Beelzebub.  The  con 
ventions  entered  into  with  General  Howard  and  Vincent  Collyer, 
which  these  Apaches  had  respected  to  the  letter — nay,  more,  the 
personal  assurances  given  by  the  President  of  the  United  States 
to  old  "  Pedro  "  during  a  visit  made  by  the  latter  to  Washington — 
were  all  swept  away  like  cobwebs,  while  the  conspirators  laughed 
in  their  sleeves,  because  they  knew  a  trick  or  two  worth  all  of 
that.  They  had  only  to  report  by  telegraph  that  the  Apaches 
were  "  uneasy,"  "  refused  to  obey  the  orders  of  the  agent,"  and  a 
lot  more  stuff  of  the  same  kind,  and  the  Great  Father  would  send 
in  ten  regiments  to  carry  out  the  schemes  of  the  ring,  but  he 
would  never  send  one  honest,  truthful  man  to  inquire  whether 
the  Apaches  had  a  story  or  not. 

It  is  within  the  limits  of  possibility,  that  as  the  American 
Indians  become  better  and  better  acquainted  with  the  English 
language,  and  abler  to  lay  their  own  side  of  a  dispute  before  the 
American  people,  there  may  be  a  diminution  in  the  number  of  out 
breaks,  scares,  and  misunderstandings,  which  have  cost  the  tax 
payers  such  fabulous  sums,  and  which  I  trust  may  continue  to 
cost  just  as  much  until  the  tax-payer  shall  take  a  deeper  and 
more  intelligent  interest  in  this  great  question.  Another  fact 
brought  out  in  this  conference  was  the  readiness  with  which 
agents  and  others  incarcerated  Indians  in  guard-houses  upon 
charges  which  were  baseless,  or  at  least  trivial.  At  other  times, 
if  the  charges  were  grave,  nothing  was  done  to  press  the  cases  to 
trial,  and  the  innocent  as  well  as  the  guilty  suffered  by  the  long 
imprisonment,  which  deprived  the  alleged  criminals  of  the  oppor 
tunity  to  work  for  the  support  of  their  families.  The  report  of 
the  Federal  Grand  Jury  of  Arizona — taken  from  the  Star,  of  Tuc 
son,  Arizona,  October  24,  1882 — shows  up  this  matter  far  more 
eloquently  than  I  am  able  to  do,  and  I  need  not  say  that  a  fron 
tier  jury  never  yet  has  said  a  word  in  favor  of  a  red  man  unless 
the  reasons  were  fully  patent  to  the  ordinary  comprehension. 

To  THE  HONORABLE  WILSON  HOOVER,  District  Judge : 

The  greatest  interest  was  felt  in  the  examination  into  the  cases  of  the  eleven 
Indian  prisoners  brought  here  for  trial  from  San  Carlos.  The  United  States 
District  Attorney  had  spent  much  time  in  preparing  this  investigation.  The 
Department  of  Justice  had  peremptorily  ordered  that  these  cases  should  be 
disposed  of  at  this  term  of  court.  Agent  Wilcox  had  notified  the  district 
attorney  that  he  should  release  these  Indians  by  October  1st  if  they  were  not 


ARRAIGNED  BY  A  GRAND  JURY.  439 

brought  away  for  trial.  The  official  correspondence  from  the  various  depart 
ments  with  the  district  attorney  included  a  letter  from  Agent  Tiffany  to  the 
Interior  Department,  asking  that  these  Indians  be  at  once  tried,  and  yet  Agent 
Tiffany  released  all  the  guilty  Indians  without  punishment  and  held  in  confine 
ment  these  eleven  men  for  a  period  of  fourteen  months  without  ever  present 
ing  a  charge  against  them,  giving  them  insufficient  food  and  clothing,  and 
permitting  those  whose  guilt  was  admitted  by  themselves  and  susceptible  of 
overwhelming  proof,  to  stalk  about  unblushingly  and  in  defiance  of  law. 
This,  too,  under  the  very  shadow  of  his  authority,  and  in  laughing  mockery 
of  every  principle  of  common  decency,  to  say  nothing  of  justice. 

How  any  official  possessing  the  slightest  manhood  could  keep  eleven  men 
in  confinement  for  fourteen  months  without  charges  or  any  attempt  to  accuse 
them,  knowing  them  to  be  innocent,  is  a  mystery  which  can  only  be  solved 
by  an  Indian  agent  of  the  Tiffany  stamp.  The  investigations  of  the  Grand 
Jury  have  brought  to  light  a  course  of  procedure  at  the  San  Carlos  Reserva 
tion,  under  the  government  of  Agent  Tiffany,  which  is  a  disgrace  to  the  civ 
ilization  of  the  age  and  a  foal  blot  upon  the  national  escutcheon.  While 
many  of  the  details  connected  with  these  matters  are  outside  of  our  jurisdic 
tion,  we  nevertheless  feel  it  our  duty,  as  honest  American  citizens,  to  express 
our  utter  abhorrence  of  the  conduct  of  Agent  Tiffany  and  that  class  of  rev 
erend  peculators  who  have  cursed  Arizona  as  Indian  officials,  and  who  have 
caused  more  misery  and  loss  of  life  than  all  other  causes  combined.  We  feel 
assured,  however,  that  under  the  judicious  and  just  management  of  General 
Crook,  these  evils  will  be  abated,  and  we  sincerely  trust  that  he  may  be  per 
mitted  to  render  the  official  existence  of  such  men  as  Agent  Tiffany,  in  the 
future,  unnecessary. 

The  investigations  of  the  Grand  Jury  also  establish  the  fact  that  General 
Crook  has  the  unbounded  confidence  of  all  the  Indians.  The  Indian  prison 
ers  acknowledged  this  before  the  Grand  Jury,  and  they  expressed  themselves 
as  perfectly  satisfied  that  he  would  deal  justly  with  them  all.  We  have  made 
diligent  inquiry  into  the  various  charges  presented  in  regard  to  Indian  goods 
and  the  traffic  at  San  Carlos  and  elsewhere,  and  have  acquired  a  vast  amount 
of  information  which  we  think  will  be  of  benefit.  For  several  years  the  peo 
ple  of  this  Territory  have  been  gradually  arriving  at  the  conclusion  that  the 
management  of  the  Indian  reservations  in  Arizona  was  a  fraud  upon  the 
Government ;  that  the  constantly  recurring  outbreaks  of  the  Indians  and  their 
consequent  devastations  were  due  to  the  criminal  neglect  or  apathy  of  the 
Indian  agent  at  San  Carlos;  but  never  until  the  present  investigations  of  the 
Grand  Jury  have  laid  bare  the  infamy  of  Agent  Tiffany  could  a  proper  idea 
be  formed  of  the  fraud  and  villany  which  are  constantly  practised  in  open 
violation  of  law  and  in  defiance  of  public  justice.  Fraud,  peculation,  con 
spiracy,  larceny,  plots  and  counterplots,  seem  to  be  the  rule  of  action  upon 
this  reservation.  The  Grand  Jury  little  thought  when  they  began  this  inves 
tigation  that  they  were  about  to  open  a  Pandora's  box  of  iniquities  seldom 
surpassed  in  the  annals  of  crime. 

With  the  immense  power  wielded  by  the  Indian  agent  almost  any  crime 
is  possible.  There  seems  to  be  no  check  upon  his  conduct.  In  collusion 


440          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

with  the  chief  clerk  and  storekeeper,  rations  can  be  issued  ad  libitum  for 
which  the  Government  must  pay,  while  the  proceeds  pass  into  the  capacious 
pockets  of  the  agent.  Indians  are  sent  to  work  on  the  coal-fields,  super 
intended  by  white  men ;  all  the  workmen  and  superintendents  are  fed 
and  frequently  paid  from  the  agency  stores,  and  no  return  of  the  same  is 
made.  Government  tools  and  wagons  are  used  in  transporting  goods  and 
working  the  coal-mines,  in  the  interest  of  this  close  corporation  and  with  the 
same  result.  All  surplus  supplies  are  used  in  the  interest  of  the  agent,  and 
no  return  made  thereof.  Government  contractors,  in  collusion  with  Agent 
Tiffany,  get  receipts  for  large  amounts  of  supplies  never  furnished,  and  the 
profit  is  divided  mutually,  and  a  general  spoliation  of  the  United  States 
Treasury  is  thus  effected.  While  six  hundred  Indians  are  off  on  passes,  their 
rations  are  counted  and  turned  in  to  the  mutual  aid  association,  consisting  of 
Tiffany  and  his  associates.  Every  Indian  child  born  receives  rations  from  the 
moment  of  its  advent  into  this  vale  of  tears,  and  thus  adds  its  mite  to  the 
Tiffany  pile.  In  the  meantime,  the  Indians  are  neglected,  half -fed,  discon 
tented,  and  turbulent,  until  at  last,  with  the  vigilant  eye  peculiar  to  the  sav 
age,  the  Indians  observe  the  manner  in  which  the  Government,  through  its 
agent,  complies  with  its  sacred  obligations. 

This  was  the  united  testimony  of  the  Grand  Jury,  corroborated  by  white 
witnesses,  and  to  these  and  kindred  causes  may  be  attributed  the  desolation 
and  bloodshed  which  have  dotted  our  plains  with  the  graves  of  murdered 
victims. 

FOREMAN  OF  THE  GRAND  JURY. 

The  above  official  report  of  a  United  States  Grand  Jury  is 
about  as  strong  a  document  as  is  usually  to  be  found  in  the  dusty 
archives  of  courts  ;  to  its  contents  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to 
add  a  single  syllable.  I  prefer  to  let  the  intelligent  reader  form 
his  own  conclusions,,  while  I  resume  the  thread  of  my  narrative 
where  I  left  off  in  General  Crook's  bivouac  on  the  Black  River. 

The  canon  of  the  Black  Eiver  is  deep  and  dark,  walled  in  by 
towering  precipices  of  basalt  and  lava,  the  latter  lying  in  loose 
blocks  along  the  trail  down  which  the  foot-sore  traveller  must 
descend,  leading  behind  him  his  equally  foot-sore  mule.  The 
river  was  deep  and  strong,  and  in  the  eddies  and  swirls  amid  the 
projecting  rocks  were  hiding  some  of  the  rare  trout  of  the  Terri 
tory,  so  coy  that  the  patience  of  the  fisherman  was  exhausted 
before  they  could  be  induced  to  jump  at  his  bait.  The  forbid 
ding  ruggedness  of  the  mountain  flanks  was  concealed  by  forests 
of  pine  and  juniper,  which  extended  for  miles  along  the  course 
of  the  stream.  The  music  of  our  pack-train  bells  was  answered 
by  the  silvery  laughter  of  squaws  and  children,  as  we  had  with  us 


A  TALK  WITH  CROOK.  441 

in  this  place  over  one  hundred  Apaches,  many  of  them  following 
out  from  Camp  Apache  to  hear  the  results  of  the  conference. 

The  Apaches  with  whom  General  Crook  talked  at  this  place 
were,  in  addition  to  "  Alchise J"  and  several  others  who  had  been 
sent  out  from  Camp  Apache  to  notify  the  members  of  the  tribe 
hiding  in  the  mountains,  "Nagataha,"  "  A-ha-ni,"  "  Comanchi," 
"Charlie,"  "Nawdina,"  "Lonni,"  "Neta,"  "Kulo,"  "Kan-tzi- 
chi,"  "Tzi-di-ku,"  "Klishe."  The  whole  subject  of  their  rela 
tions  with  the  whites  was  traversed,  and  much  information 
elicited.  The  only  facts  of  importance  to  a  volume  of  this  kind 
were  :  the  general  worthlessness  and  rascality  of  the  agents  who 
had  been  placed  in  charge  of  them  ;  the  constant  robbery  going 
on  without  an  attempt  at  concealment ;  the  selling  of  supplies 
and  clothing  intended  for  the  Indians,  to  traders  in  the  little 
towns  of  Globe,  Maxey,  and  Solomonville;  the  destruction  of  the 
corn  and  melon  fields  of  the  Apaches,  who  had  been  making 
their  own  living,  and  the  compelling  of  all  who  could  be  forced 
to  do  so  to  depend  upon  the  agent  for  meagre  supplies  ;  the 
arbitrary  punishments  inflicted  without  trial,  or  without  testi- 
timony  of  any  kind  ;  the  cutting  down  of  the  reservation  limits 
without  reference  to  the  Apaches.  Five  times  had  this  been 
done,  and  much  of  the  most  valuable  portion  had  been  seques 
tered  ;  the  copper  lands  on  the  eastern  side  were  now  occupied 
by  the  flourishing  town  of  Clifton,  while  on  the  western  limit 
Globe  and  MacMillin  had  sprung  into  being. 

Coal  had  been  discovered  at  the  head  of  Deer  Creek  on  the 
southern  extremity,  and  every  influence  possible  was  at  work  to 
secure  the  sequestration  of  that  part  of  the  reservation  for  specu 
lators,  who  hoped  to  be  able  to  sell  out  at  a  big  profit  to  the 
Southern  Pacific  Railroad  Company.  The  Mormons  had  tres 
passed  upon  the  fields  already  cultivated  by  the  Apaches  at 
Forestdale,  and  the  agent  had  approached  a  circle  of  twenty  of 
the  chiefs  and  head  men  assembled  at  the  San  Carlos,  and 
offered  each  of  them  a  small  bag,  containing  one  hundred  dol 
lars — Mexican — and  told  them  that  they  must  agree  to  sign  a 
paper,  giving  up  all  the  southern  part  of  the  reservation,  or 
troops  would  be  sent  to  kill  them.  A  silver  mine  had  been  dis 
covered,  or  was  alleged  to  have  been  discovered,  and  the  agent 
and  some  of  his  pals  proposed  to  form  a  stock  company,  and 
work  it  off  on  confiding  brethren  in  the  East.  In  none  of  the 


442  ON   THE  BORDER  WITH   CROOK. 

curtailments,  as  consummated  or  contemplated,  had  the  interests 
or  feelings  of  the  Indians  been  consulted. 

The  rations  doled  out  had  shrunk  to  a  surprising  degree  :  one 
of  the  shoulders  of  the  small  cajttle  of  that  region  was  made  to 
do  twenty  people  for  a  week  ;  one  cup  of  flour  was  issued  every 
seven  days  to  each  adult.  As  the  Indians  themselves  said,  they 
were  compelled  to  eat  every  part  of  the  animal,  intestines,  hoofs, 
and  horns.  Spies  were  set  upon  the  agency,  who  followed  the 
wagons  laden  with  the  Indian  supplies  to  Globe  and  the  other 
towns  just  named,  to  which  they  travelled  by  night,  there  to  un 
load  and  transfer  to  the  men  who  had  purchased  from  the  agent 
or  his  underlings.  One  of  the  Apaches  who  understood  English 
and  Spanish  was  deputed  to  speak  to  the  agent  upon  the  mat 
ter.  It  was  the  experience  of  Oliver  Twist  over  again  when 
he  asked  for  more.  The  messenger  was  put  in  the  guardhouse, 
where  he  remained  for  six  months,  and  was  then  released  with 
out,  trial  or  knowing  for  what  he  had  been  imprisoned.  In 
regard  to  the  civilian  agents,  the  Apaches  said  they  ran  from  bad 
to  worse,  being  dishonest,  indifferent,  tyrannical,  and  generally 
incompetent.  Of  Captain  Chaffee,  of  the  Sixth  Cavalry,  who 
had  been  for  a  while  in  charge  at  San  Carlos,  the  Apaches  spoke 
in  terms  of  respect,  saying  that  he  was  very  severe  in  his  notions, 
but  a  just  and  honest  man,  and  disposed  to  be  harsh  only  with 
those  who  persisted  in  making,  selling,  or  drinking  the  native 
intoxicant,  "tizwin."  The  rottenness  of  the  San  Carlos  Agency 
extended  all  the  way  to  Washington,  and  infolded  in  its  meshes 
officials  of  high  rank.  It  is  to  the  lasting  credit  of  Hon.  Carl 
Schurz,  then  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  that  when  he  learned  of 
the  delinquencies  of  certain  of  his  subordinates,  he  swung  his 
axe  without  fear  or  favor,  and  the  heads  of  the  Commissioner  of 
Indian  Affairs,  the  Inspector-General  of  the  Indian  Bureau,  and 
the  agent  at  San  Carlos  fell  into  the  basket. 

At  the  San  Carlos  Agency  itself,  Crook  met  such  men  as 
"Cha-lipun,"  "Chimahuevi-sal,"  "Navatane,"  "Nodikun," 
"  Santos,"  "  Skinospozi,"  "  Pedilkun,"  "Binilke,"  "  Captain 
Chiquito,"  "  Eskiminzin,"  "  Huan-klishe,"  and  numbers  of 
others  ;  those  who  had  always  lived  in  the  hills  near  the  San 
Carlos  were  content  to  live  in  the  country,  but  such  of  the  num 
ber  as  had  been  pulled  away  from  the  cool  climate  and  pure  water 
of  the  Cibicu,  Carrizo,  and  other  canons  in  the  vicinity  of  Camp 


THE  GENERAL'S  SCRUPULOUSNESS.  443 

Apache,  and  had  seen  their  fields  of  corn  tramped  down  at 
the  orders  of  the  agent,  were  full  of  grievous  complaint.  The 
Apache- Yu  mas  and  the  Apaches  are  an  entirely  different  people, 
speaking  different  languages  and  resembling  each  other  only  in 
the  bitter  hostility  with  which  they  had  waged  war  against  the 
whites.  The  young  men  of  the  Apache- Yuma  bands  who 
attended  the  conferences,  were  in  full  toilet — that  is,  they  were 
naked  from  shoulders  to  waist,  had  their  faces  painted  with 
deer's  blood  or  mescal,  their  heads  done  up  in  a  plaster  of  mud 
three  inches  thick,  and  pendent  from  the  cartilage  of  the  nose 
wore  a  ring  with  a  fragment  of  nacreous  shell.  General  Crook's 
own  estimate  of  the  results  of  these  conferences,  which  are 
entirely  too  long  to  be  inserted  here,  is  expressed  in  the  follow 
ing  General  Orders  (Number  43),  issued  from  his  headquarters 
at  Fort  Whipple  on  the  5th  of  October,  1882. 

"  The  commanding  general,  after  making  a  thorough  and  exhaustive  ex 
amination  among  the  Indians  of  the  eastern  and  southern  part  of  this  Terri 
tory,  regrets  to  say  that  he  finds  among  them  a  general  feeling  of  distrust  and 
want  of  confidence  in  the  whites,  especially  the  soldiery  ;  and  also  that  much 
dissatisfaction,  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  the  country,  exists  among  them. 
Officers  and  soldiers  serving  in  this  department  are  reminded  that  one  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  military  character  is  justice  to  all — Indians  as 
well  as  white  men — and  that  a  disregard  of  this  principle  is  likely  to  bring 
about  hostilities,  and  cause  the  death  of  the  very  persons  they  are  sent  here 
to  protect.  In  all  their  dealings  with  the  Indians,  officers  must  be  careful- 
not  only  to  observe  the  strictest  fidelity,  but  to  make  no  promises  not  in  their 
power  to  carry  out ;  all  grievances  arising  within  their  jurisdiction  should  be 
redressed,  so  that  an  accumulation  of  them  may  not  cause  an  outbreak. 

"Grievances,  however  petty,  if  permitted  to  accumulate,  will  be  like  em 
bers  that  smoulder  and  eventually  break  into  flame.  "When  officers  are  ap 
plied  to  for  the  employment  of  force  against  Indians,  they  should  thoroughly 
satisfy  themselves  of  the  necessity  for  the  application,  and  of  the  legality  of 
compliance  therewith,  in  order  that  they  may  not,  through  the  inexperience 
of  others,  or  through  their  own  hastiness,  allow  the  troops  under  them  to 
become  the  instruments  of  oppression.  There  must  be  no  division  of  respon 
sibility  in  this  matter  ;  each  officer  will  be  held  to  a  strict  accountability  that 
his  actigns  have  been  fully  authorized  by  law  and  justice,  and  that  Indians 
evincing  a  desire  to  enter  upon  a  career  of  peace  shall  have  no  cause  for  com 
plaint  through  hasty  or  injudicious  acts  of  the  military." 

Crook's  management  of  the  Department  of  Arizona  was  con 
ducted  on  the  same  lines  as  during  his  previous  administration  :  he 
rode  on  mule-back  all  over  it,  and  met  and  understood  each  and 


444  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

every  Indian  with  whom  he  might  have  to  deal  as  friend  or  ene 
my  ;  he  reorganized  his  pack-trains  and  the  Indian  scouts,  put 
the  control  of  military  affairs  at  the  San  Carlos  under  charge  of 
Captain  Emmet  Crawford,  Third  Cavalry,  a  most  intelligent  and 
conscientious  officer,  encouraged  the  Indians  to  prepare  for  plant 
ing  good  crops  the  next  spring,  and  made  ready  to  meet  the 
Chiricahuas.  These  Indians,  for  whom  a  reservation  had  been 
laid  out  with  its  southern  line  the  boundary  between  the  United 
States  and  the  Mexican  Republic,  had  been  dealing  heavily  at 
the  ranch  of  Eogers  and  Spence,  at  Sulphur  Springs,  where  they 
were  able  to  buy  all  the  vile  whiskey  they  needed.  In  a  row  over 
the  sale  of  liquor  botli  Eogers  and  Spence  were  killed,  and  the 
Apaches,  fearing  punishment,  fled  to  the  mountains  of  Mexico — 
the  Sierra  Madre.  From  that  on,  for  six  long  years,  the  history  of 
the  Chiricahuas  was  one  of  blood  :  a  repetition  of  the  long  series 
of  massacres  which,  under  "  Cocheis,"  they  had  perpetrated  in 
the  old  days. 

On  several  occasions  a  number  of  them  returned  to  the  San 
Carlos,  or  pretended  to  do  so,  but  the  recesses  of  the  Sierra 
Madre  always  afforded  shelter  to  small  bands  of  renegades  of  the 
type  of  "  Ka-e-tan-ne,"  who  despised  the  white  man  as  a  liar  and 
scorned  him  as  a  foe.  The  unfortunate  policy  adopted  by  the 
Government  towards  the  "  Warm  Springs "  Apaches  of  New 
Mexico,  who  were  closely  related  to  the  Chiricahuas,  had  an  un 
healthy  effect  upon  the  latter  and  upon  all  the  other  bands.  The 
"  Warm  Springs "  Apaches  were  peremptorily  deprived  of  their 
little  fields  and  driven  away  from  their  crops,  half-ripened,  and 
ordered  to  tramp  to  the  San  Carlos  ;  when  the  band  reached 
there  the  fighting  men  had  disappeared,  and  only  decrepit  war 
riors,  little  boys  and  girls,  and  old  women  remained.  "  Vic- 
torio  "  went  on  the  war-path  with  every  effective  man,  and  fairly 
deluged  New  Mexico  and  Chihuahua  with  blood. 

General  Crook  felt  that  the  Chiricahua  Apache  problem  was  a 
burning  shame  and  disgrace,  inasmuch  as  the  property  and  lives 
not  only  of  our  own  citizens  but  of  those  of  a  friendly  nation,  were 
constantly  menaced.  He  had  not  been  at  San  Carlos  twenty-four 
hours  before  he  had  a  party  of  Apaches  out  in  the  ranges  to  the 
south  looking  for  trails  or  signs ;  this  little  party  penetrated  down 
into  the  northern  end  of  the  Sierra  Madre  below  Camp  Price,  and 
saw  some  of  the  Mexican  irregular  troops,  but  found  no  fresh 


PREVENTING  OUTBREAKS.  445 

traces  of  the  enemy.  Crook  insisted  upon  the  expulsion  from 
the  reservation  of  all  unauthorized  squatters  and  miners,  whether 
appearing  under  the  guise  of  Mormons  or  as  friends  of  the  late 
agents,  and  opposed  resolutely  the  further  curtailment  of  the 
reservation  or  the  proposition  to  transfer  the  Apaches  to  the  In 
dian  Territory,  having  in  mind  the  contemptible  failure  of  the 
attempt  to  evict  the  Cherokees  from  the  mountains  of  North 
Carolina,  where  some  twenty-two  hundred  of  them  still  cling  to 
the  homes  of  their  forefathers.  He  also  insisted  upon  giving  to 
the  Apaches  all  work  which  could  be  provided  for  them,  and  in 
paying  for  the  same  in  currency  to  the  individual  Indians  with 
out  the  interposition  of  any  middlemen  or  contractors  in  any 
guise. 

This  will  explain  in  a  word  why  Crook  was  suddenly  abused  so 
roundly  in  the  very  Territory  for  which  he  had  done  so  much. 
People  who  were  not  influenced  by  the  disappointed  elements 
enumerated,  saw  that  General  Crook's  views  were  eminently  fair 
and  sound,  based  upon  the  most  extended  experience,  and  not 
the  hap-hazard  ideas  of  a  theoretical  soldier.  To  quote  from  the 
Annual  Message  of  Governor  Tritle  :  "  The  Indians  know  Gen 
eral  Crook  and  his  methods,  and  respect  both/'  Had  the  notion 
ever  taken  root  among  the  Apaches  that  they  were  all  to  be 
transplanted  to  unknown  regions,  the  country  would  have  had  to 
face  the  most  terrible  and  costly  war  in  its  history.  Crook  did 
not  want  wars — he  wanted  to  avert  them.  In  a  letter  to  United 
States  District  Attorney  Zabriskie,  he  used  the  following  lan 
guage  :  "  I  believe  that  it  is  of  far  greater  importance  to  prevent 
outbreaks  than  to  attempt  the  difficult  and  sometimes  hopeless 
task  of  quelling  them  after  they  do  occur  ;  this  policy  can  only 
be  successful  when  the  officers  of  justice  fearlessly  perform  their 
duty  in  proceeding  against  the  villains  who  fatten  on  the  sup 
plies  intended  for  the  use  of  Indians  willing  to  lead  peaceful 
and  orderly  lives.  Bad  as  Indians  often  are,  I  have  never  yet 
seen  one  so  demoralized  that  he  was  not  an  example  in  honor  and 
nobility  to  the  wretches  who  enrich  themselves  by  plundering 
him  of  the  little  our  Government  appropriates  for  him." 

To  prevent  any  of  the  Indians  from  slipping  off  from  the 
agency,  they  were  all  enrolled,  made  to  wear  tags  as  of  yore,  and 
compelled  to  submit  to  periodical  counts  occurring  every  few 
days.  It  was  found  that  there  were  then  at  the  San  Carlos 


446          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Agency  eleven  hundred  and  twenty-eight  males  capable  of  bear 
ing  arms ;  this  did  not  include  the  bands  at  or  near  Camp 
Apache  or  the  Chiricahuas.  The  Apaches  manifested  the  liveliest 
interest  in  the  system  of  trial  by  jury,  and  it  was  apparent  that 
criminals  stood  but  a  small  chance  of  escaping  punishment  when 
arraigned  before  their  own  people.  While  we  were  at  San  Carlos 
on  this  occasion  Captain  Crawford  had  arrested  two  Apaches  on 
the  charge  of  making  "tizwin,"  getting  drunk,  and  arousing 
camp  by  firing  off  guns  late  at  night.  The  jury  was  impanelled, 
the  trial  began,  and  the  room  soon  filled  with  spectators.  The 
prisoners  attempted  to  prove  an  " alibi,"  and  introduced  wit 
nesses  to  swear  to  the  shooting  having  been  done  by  other  parties. 

"Eskiminzin"  impatiently  arose  to  his  feet  and  interrupted 
the  proceedings  :  "  That  man  is  not  telling  the  truth/' 

"Tell  'Eskiminzin*  to  sit  down  and  keep  quiet,"  ordered 
Captain  Crawford  ;  "  he  must  not  interrupt  the  proceedings  of 
the  court." 

A  few  moments  after,  in  looking  down  the  long  list  of  wit 
nesses,  it  was  discovered  that  "Eskiminzin"  was  present  as  a 
witness,  and  he  was  called  upon  to  testify. 

"  Tell  the  Captain,"  said  the  indignant  chief,  "  that  I  have 
nothing  to  say.  I  do  not  understand  these  white  men  ;  they  let 
all  kinds  of  people  talk  at  a  trial,  and  would  just  as  soon  listen 
to  the  words  of  a  liar  as  those  of  a  man  telling  the  truth.  Why, 
when  I  began  to  tell  him  that  So-and-so  was  lying,  he  made  me 
sit  down  and  keep  my  mouth  shut,  but  So-and-so  went  on  talk 
ing,  and  every  word  he  said  was  put  down  on  paper." 

It  took  some  time  to  explain  to  "  Eskiminzin  "  the  intricacies 
of  our  laws  of  evidence,  and  to  pacify  him  enough  to  induce  him 
to  give  his  version  of  the  facts. 

Our  quarters  while  at  San  Carlos  were  the  adobe  building 
erected  as  a  "  school-house,"  at  a  cost  to  the  Government  of  forty 
thousand  dollars,  but  occupied  by  the  late  agent  as  a  residence. 
It  had  been  erected  at  a  net  cost  of  something  between  eight  and 
nine  thousand  dollars,  or  at  least  I  would  contract  to  duplicate 
it  for  that  and  expect  to  make  some  money  in  the  transaction 
besides.  The  walls  were  covered  over  with  charcoal  scrawls  of 
Apache  gods,  drawn  by  irreverent  youngsters,  and  the  appearance 
of  the  place  did  not  in  the  remotest  sense  suggest  the  habitation 
of  the  Muses. 


TOMBSTONE  AND  PHCENIX.  447 

General  Crook  returned  late  in  the  fall  of  1882  to  his  head 
quarters  at  Fort  Whipple,  and  awaited  the  inevitable  irruption  of 
the  Chiricahua  Apaches  from  their  stronghold  in  the  Sierra 
Madre  in  Mexico.  Large  detachments  of  Indian  scouts,  under 
competent  officers,  were  kept  patrolling  the  boundary  in  the 
vicinity  of  Cloverdale  and  other  exposed  points,  and  small  gar 
risons  were  in  readiness  to  take  the  field  from  Fort  Bowie  and 
other  stations.  The  completion  of  the  Southern  Pacific  and  the 
Atchison,  Topeka,  and  Santa  Fe  systems,  and  the  partial  com 
pletion  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Railroad,  had  wrought  certain 
changes  in  the  condition  of  affairs,  to  which  reference  may  be 
made.  In  a  military  sense  they  had  all  been  a  great  benefit  by 
rendering  the  transportation  of  troops  and  supplies  a  matter  of 
most  agreeable  surprise  to  those  who  still  remembered  the  creaking 
ox-teams  and  prairie  schooners,  which  formerly  hauled  all  stores 
from  the  banks  of  the  distant  Missouri ;  in  a  social  sense  they 
had  been  the  means  of  introducing  immigration,  some  of  which 
was  none  too  good,  as  is  always  the  case  with  the  earlier  days  of 
railroad  construction  on  the  frontier. 

The  mining  towns  like  Tombstone,  then  experiencing  a 
"boom,"  had  been  increased  by  more  than  a  fair  quota  of  gam 
blers,  roughs,  and  desperate  adventurers  of  all  classes.  Cowboys 
and  horse  thieves  flooded  the  southeastern  corner  of  the  Terri 
tory  and  the  southwestern  corner  of  the  next  Territory — New 
Mexico ;  with  Cloverdale,  in  southwestern  New  Mexico,  as  a 
headquarters,  they  bade  defiance  to  the  law  and  ran  things  with 
a  high  hand,  and  made  many  people  sigh  for  the  better  days 
when  only  red-skinned  savages  intimidated  the  settlements. 
The  town  of  Phoanix  had  arisen  in  the  valley  of  the  Salt  Eiver, 
along  the  lines  of  prehistoric  irrigating  ditches,  marking  the 
presence  of  considerable  population,  and  suggesting  to  Judge 
Hay  den  and  others  who  first  laid  it  out  the  propriety  of  bestow 
ing  the  name  it  now  bears.  The  new  population  were  both  intel 
ligent  and  enterprising  :  under  the  superintendence  of  the  Hon. 
Clark  Churchill  they  had  excavated  great  irrigating  canals, 
and  begun  the  planting  of  semi-tropical  fruits,  which  has  proved 
unusually  remunerative,  and  built  up  the  community  so  that  it 
has  for  years  been  able  to  care  for  itself  against  any  hostile 
attacks  that  might  be  threatened.  Prescott,  being  off  the  direct 
line  of  railroad  (with  which,  however,  it  has  since  been  connected 


448          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

by  a  branch),  had  not  responded  so  promptly  to  the  new  condi 
tion  of  affairs,  but  its  growth  had  been  steady,  and  its  population 
had  not  been  burdened  with  the  same  class  of  loafers  who  for  so 
long  a  time  held  high  carnival  in  Tombstone,  Deming,  and  else 
where.  Prescott  had  always  boasted  of  its  intelligent,  bright 
family  society — thoroughly  American  in  the  best  sense — and  the 
boast  was  still  true. 

There  is  no  point  in  the  southwestern  country  so  well  adapted, 
none  that  can  compare  with  Prescott  as  the  site  of  a  large  Indian 
school ;  and  when  the  time  comes,  as  I  am  certain  it  is  to  come, 
when  we  shall  recognize  the  absurdity  of  educating  a  few  Indian 
boys  and  then  returning  them  back  to  their  tribes,  in  which  they 
can  exert  no  influence,  but  can  excite  only  jealousy  on  account 
of  their  superior  attainments — when  by  a  slight  increase  of  appro 
priations,  the  whole  race  of  Indian  boys  and  girls  could  be  lifted 
from  savagery  into  the  path  to  a  better  life — Prescott  will 
become  the  site  of  such  a  school.  It  is  education  which  is  to  be 
the  main  lever  in  this  elevation,  but  it  is  wholesale  education,  not 
retail.  This  phase  of  the  case  impressed  itself  upon  the  early 
settlers  in  Canada,  who  provided  most  liberally  for  the  training 
of,  comparatively  speaking,  great  numbers  of  the  Algonquin  youth 
of  both  sexes.  In  Mexico  was  erected  the  first  school  for  the 
education  of  the  native  American — the  college  at  Patzcuaro — 
"built  before  foot  of  Puritan  had  touched  the  rock  of  Plymouth. 

Prescott  possesses  the  advantages  of  being  the  centre  of  a  dis 
trict  inhabited  by  numbers  of  tribes  whose  children  could  be 
educated  so  near  their  own  homes  that  parents  would  feel  easier  in 
regard  to  them,  and  yet  the  youngsters  would  be  far  removed  from 
tribal  influences  and  in  the  midst  of  a  thoroughly  progressive 
American  community.  The  climate  cannot  be  excelled  anywhere  ; 
the  water  is  as  good  as  can  be  found ;  and  the  scenery — of  granite 
peaks,  grassy  meads,  balmy  pine  forests,  and  placid  streamlets — 
cannot  well  be  surpassed.  The  post  of  Fort  Whipple  could  be 
transferred  to  the  Interior  Department,  and  there  would  be  found 
ready  to  hand  the  houses  for  teachers,  the  school-rooms,  dormi 
tories,  refectories,  blacksmith-shops,  wagoners',  shops,  saddlers' 
shops,  stables,  granaries,  and  other  buildings  readily  adaptable  to 
the  purposes  of  instruction  in  various  handicrafts.  Five  hundred 
children,  equally  divided  as  to  sex,  could  be  selected  from  the 
great  tribes  of  the  Navajos,  Apaches,  Hualpais,  Mojaves,  Yu- 


A  NAVAJO  SCHOOL.  449 

mas,,  Pi  mas,  and  Maricopas.  The  cost  of  living  is  very  moderate, 
and  all  supplies  could  be  brought  in  on  the  branch  railroad, 
while  the  absence  of  excitement  incident  to  communities  estab 
lished  at  railroad  centres  or  on  through  lines  will  be  manifest 
upon  a  moment's  reflection.  It  would  require  careful,  intelligent, 
absolutely  honest  administration,  to  make  it  a  success  ;  it  should 
be  some  such  school  as  I  have  seen  conducted  by  the  Congre- 
gationalists  and  Presbyterians  among  the  San  tee  Sioux,  under 
the  superintendence  of  Rev.  Alfred  Riggs,  or  by  the  Friends 
among  the  Cherokees  in  North  Carolina,  under  Mr.  Spray,  where 
the  children  are  instructed  in  the  rudiments  of-  Christian  moral 
ity,  made  to  understand  that  labor  is  most  honorable,  that  the 
saddler,  the  carpenter,  or  blacksmith  must  be  a  gentleman  and 
come  to  the  supper-table  with  clean  face  and  combed  hair,  and 
that  the  new  life  is  in  every  respect  the  better  life. 

But  if  it  is  to  be  the  fraud  upon  the  confiding  tax-payers 
that  the  schools  at  Fort  Defiance  (Navajo  Agency),  Zuni,  San 
Carlos,  and  other  places  that  I  personally  examined  have  been, 
money  would  be  saved  by  not  establishing  it  at  all.  The  agent  of 
the  Navajos  reported  in  1880  that  his  "school"  would  accom 
modate  eighty  children.  I  should  dislike  to  imprison  eight  dogs 
that  I  loved  in  the  dingy  hole  that  he  called  a  " school" — but 
then  the  agent  had  a  pull  at  Washington,  being  the  brother-in- 
law  of  a  "  statesman,"  and  I  had  better  not  say  too  much  ;  and 
the  school-master,  although  an  epileptic  idiot,  had  been  sent  out 
as  the  representative  of  the  family  influence  of  another  "  states 
man,"  so  I  will  not  say  more  about  him.  The  Indians  to  be  in 
structed  in  the  school  whose  establishment  is  proposed  at  Pres- 
cott,  Arizona,  should  be  trained  in  the  line  of  their  "atavism," 
if  I  may  borrow  a  word  from  the  medical  dictionary — that 
is,  they  should  be  trained  in  the  line  of  their  inherited  pro 
clivities  and  tendencies.  Their  forefathers  for  generations — 
ever  since  the  time  of  the  work  among  them  of  the  Fran 
ciscan  missionaries — have  been  a  pastoral  people,  raising  great 
flocks  of  sheep,  clipping,  carding,  and  spinning  the  wool,  weaving 
the  most  beautiful  of  rugs  and  blankets  and  sashes,  and  selling 
them  at  a  profit  to  admiring  American  travellers.  They  have  been 
saddle-makers,  basket-makers,  silver-smiths,  and — as  in  the  case 
of  the  Mojaves,  Pimas,  and  Maricopas — potters  and  mat-makers. 
In  such  trades,  preferentially,  they  should  be  instructed,  and  by 
29 


450          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

the  introduction  of  a  few  Lamb  knitting  machines,  they  could 
be  taught  to  make  stockings  for  the  Southwestern  market  out  of 
the  wool  raised  by  their  own  families,  and  thus  help  support  the 
institution  and  open  a  better  market  for  the  products  of  their 
own  tribe.  They  could  be  taught  to  tan  the  skins  of  their  own 
flocks  and  herds,  and  to  make  shoes -and  saddles  of  the  result, 
But  all  this  must  be  put  down  as  "  whimsical,"  because  there  is 
no  money  in  it  "for  the  boys/'  The  great  principle  of  Ameri 
can  politics,  regardless  of  party  lines,  is  that  "the  boys"  must 
be  taken  care  of  at  all  times  and  in  all  places. 

Tucson  had  changed  the  most  appreciably  of  any  town  in  the 
Southwest ;  American  energy  and  American  capital  had  effected 
a  wonderful  transformation  :  the  old  garrison  was  gone  ;  the 
railroad  had  arrived  ;  where  Jack  Long  and  his  pack-train  in 
the  old  times  had  merrily  meandered,  now  puffed  the  locomotive ; 
Mufioz's  corral  had  been  displaced  by  a  round-house,  and  Mufloz 
himself  by  a  one-lunged  invalid  from  Boston  ;  the  Yankees  had 
almost  transformed  the  face  of  nature  ;  the  exquisite  architect 
ural  gem  of  San  Xavier  del  Bac  still  remained,  but  the  "  Shoo 
Fly "  restaurant  had  disappeared,  and  in  its  place  the  town 
boasted  with  very  good  reason  of  the  "  San  Xavier  "  Hotel,  one 
of  the  best  coming  within  my  experience  as  a  traveller.  Amer 
ican  enterprise  had  moved  to  the  front,  and  the  Oastilian  with 
his  "marromas"  and  "bailes"  and  saints'  days  and  "  func- 
ciones  "  had  fallen  to  the  rear  ;  telephones  and  electric  lights 
and  Pullman  cars  had  scared  away  the  plodding  burro  and  the 
creaking  "  carreta  ";  it  was  even  impossible  to  get  a  meal  cooked 
in  the  Mexican  style  of  Mexican  viands  ;  our  dreams  had  faded ; 
the  chariot  of  Cinderella  had  changed  back  into  a  pumpkin,  and 
Sancho  was  no  longer  governor. 

"  I  tell  you,  Cap,"  said  my  old  friend,  Charlie  Hopkins, 
"  them  railroads's  playin'  hob  with  th'  country,  'n  a  feller's  got  to 
hustle  hisself  now  in  Tucson  to  get  a  meal  of  frijoles  or  enchila 
das  ;  this  yere  new-fangled  grub  doan'  suit  me  'n  I  reckon  I'll  pack 
mee  grip  'n  lite  out  fur  Sonora. " 

Saddest  of  all,  the  old-timers  were  thinning  out,  or  if  not  dead 
were  living  under  a  Pharaoh  who  knew  not  Joseph  ;  the  Postons, 
Ourys,  Bradys,  Mansfields,  Veils,  Kosses,  Montgomerys,  Duncans, 
Drachmans,  Handys,  and  others  were  unappreciated  by  the  in 
coming  tide  of  "  tenderfeet,"  who  knew  nothing  of  the  perils 


"UNCLE  LEW  JOHNSON."  451 

and  tribulations  of  life  in  Arizona  and  New  Mexico  before  Crook's 
genius  and  valor  had  redeemed  them  from  the  clutch  of  the  sav 
age.  On  the  Colorado  River  Captain  Jack  Mellon  still  plied  the 
good  ship  "  Cocopah,"  and  Dan  O'Leary  still  dealt  out  to  ex 
pectant  listeners  tales  of  the  terrible  days  when  he  il  fit "  with 
Crook;  within  sight  of  the  "  Wickyty wiz,"  Charlie  Spencer  still 
lived  among  his  Hualpai  kinsmen,  not  much  the  worse  for  the 
severe  wounds  received  while  a  scout ;  the  old  Hellings  mill  on 
the  Salt  River,  once  the  scene  of  open-handed  hospitality  to  all 
travellers,  still  existed  under  changed  ownership,  and  the  Ar 
nolds,  Ehls,  Bowers,  Bangharts,  and  other  ranchmen  of  north 
ern  Arizona  were  still  in  place  ;  but  the  mill  of  Don  Jose  Peirson 
no  longer  ground  its  toll  by  the  current  of  the  San  Ignacio  ;  the 
Samaniegos,  Suasteguis,  Borquis,  Ferreras,  and  other  Spanish 
families  had  withdrawn  to  Sonora  ;  and,  oldest  survival  of  all, 
"  Uncle  Lew  Johnson  "  was  living  in  seclusion  with  the  family 
of  Charlie  Hopkins  on  the  Salumay  on  the  slopes  of  the  Sierra 
Ancha.  It  would  pay  some  enterprising  man  to  go  to  Arizona 
to  interview  this  old  veteran,  who  first  entered  Arizona  with  the 
earliest  band  of  trappers  ;  who  was  one  of  the  party  led  by  Paul 
ine  Weaver  ;  who  knew  Kit  Carson  intimately  ;  who  could  recall 
the  days  when  Taos,  New  Mexico,  was  the  metropolis  of  fashion 
and  commerce  for  the  whole  Southwest,  and  the  man  who  had 
gone  as  far  east  as  St.  Louis  was  looked  upon  as  a  traveller 
whose  recitals  merited  the  closest  attention  of  the  whole  camp. 


CHAPTEK    XXVII. 

THE  SIERRA  MADRE  CAMPAIGN  AND  THE  CHIRICAHUAS — "  CHA- 
TO'S  "  RAID — CROOK'S  EXPEDITION  OF  FORTY-SIX  WHITE  MEN 
AND  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  NINETY-THREE  INDIAN  SCOUTS — 
THE  SURPRISE  OF  THE  APACHE  STRONGHOLD — THE  "  TOMB 
STONE  TOUGHS  "—THE  MANAGEMENT  OF  THE  CHIRICAHUAS 
— HOW  INDIANS  WILL  WORK  IF  ENCOURAGED — GIVING  THE 
FRANCHISE  TO  INDIANS  ;  CROOK'S  VIEWS — THE  CRAWFORD 
COURT  OF  INQUIRY — "  KA-E-TEN-NA^S  "  ARREST  ORDERED  BY 
MAJOR  BARBER — TROUBLE  ARISES  BETWEEN  THE  WAR  AND 
INTERIOR  DEPARTMENTS — CROOK  ASKS  TO  BE  RELIEVED 
FROM  THE  RESPONSIBILITY  FOR  INDIAN  AFFAIRS — SOME  OF 
THE  CHIRICAHUAS  RETURN  TO  THE  WAR-PATH. 

WHEN  the  Chiricahuas  did  break  through  into  Arizona  in 
the  early  days  of  March,  1883,  they  numbered  twenty- 
six,  and  were  under  the  command  of  "  Chato,"  a  young  chief  of 
great  intelligence  and  especial  daring.  They  committed  great 
outrages  and  marked  their  line  of  travel  with  fire  and  blood  ;  by 
stealing  horses  from  every  ranch  they  were  enabled  to  cover  not 
less  than  seventy-five  miles  a  day,  and  by  their  complete  familiar 
ity  with  the  country  were  able  to  dodge  the  troops  and  citizens 
sent  in  pursuit.  One  of  their  number  was  killed  in  a  fight  at 
the  "  Charcoal  Camp,"  in  the  "Whetstone  Mountains,  and  anoth 
er — "  Panayotishn,"  called  "  Peaches  "  by  the  soldiers — surren 
dered  at  San  Carlos  and  offered  his  services  to  the  military  to 
lead  them  against  the  Chiricahuas.  He  was  not  a  Chiricahua  him 
self,  but  a  member  of  the  White  Mountain  Apaches  and  married 
to  a  Chiricahua  squaw,  and  obliged  to  accompany  the  Chirica 
huas  when  they  last  left  the  agency. 

Crook  determined  to  take  up  the  trail  left  by  the  Chiricahuas 
and  follow  it  back  to  their  stronghold  in  the  Sierra  Madre,  and 
surprise  them  or  their  families  when  least  expected.  "  Peaches  " 
assured  him  that  the  plan  was  perfectly  feasible,  and  asked  per- 


CAPTURE  OF    THE  CHIRICAHUAS.  453 

mission  to  go  with  the  column.  By  the  terms  of  the  convention 
then  existing  between  Mexico  and  the  United  States,  the  armed 
forces  of  either  country  could,  when  in  pursuit  of  hostile  Indi 
ans,  cross  the  frontier  and  continue  pursuit  until  met  by  troops 
of  the  country  into  whose  territory  the  trail  led,  though  this  con 
vention  applied  only  to  desert  portions  of  territory.  Crook  vis 
ited  Guaymas,  Hermosillo  (in  Sonora),  and  Chihuahua,  the  cap 
ital  of  the  Mexican  State  of  the  same  name,  where  he  conferred 
with  Generals  Topete,  Bernardo  Reyes,  and  Carbo,  of  the  Mexi 
can  Army,  Governor  Torres,  of  Sonora,  and  Mayor  Zubiran,  of 
Chihuahua,  by  all  of  whom  he  was  received  most  hospitably  and 
encouraged  in  his  purposes. 

He  organized  a  small  force  of  one  hundred  and  ninety-three 
Apache  scouts  and  one  small  company  of  the  Sixth  Cavalry,  com 
manded  by  Major  Chaffee  and  Lieutenant  Frank  West.  The 
scouts  were  commanded  by  Captain  Emmet  Crawford,  Third 
Cavalry  ;  Lieutenant  Gatewood,  Sixth  Cavalry  ;  Lieutenant  W. 
W.  Forsyth,  Sixth  Cavalry  ;  Lieutenant  Mackay,  Third  Cavalry, 
with  Surgeon  Andrews  as  medical  officer.  Crook  took  command 
in  person,  having  with  him  Captain  John  G.  Bourke,  Third 
Cavalry,  and  Lieutenant  G.  J.  Febiger,  Engineer  Corps,  as 
aides-de-camp  ;  Archie  Macintosh  and  Al  Seiber  as  chiefs  of 
scouts  ;  Mickey  Free,  Severiano,  and  Sam  Bowman  as  interpret 
ers.  The  expedition  was  remarkably  successful  :  under  the 
guidance  of  "Peaches,"  "To-klanni,"  "  Alchise,"  and  other 
natives,  it  made  its  way  down  to  the  head  waters  of  the  Yaqui 
River,  more  than  two  hundred  miles  south  of  the  international 
boundary,  into  the  unknown  recesses  of  the  Sierra  Madre,  and 
there  surprised  and  captured,  after  a  brief  but  decisive  fight,  the 
stronghold  of  the  Chiricahuas,  who  were  almost  all  absent  raid 
ing  upon  the  hapless  Mexican  hamlets  exposed  to  their  fury.  As 
fast  as  the  warriors  and  squaws  came  home,  they  were  appre 
hended  and  put  under  charge  of  the  scouts. 

This  was  one  of  the  boldest  and  most  successful  strokes  ever 
achieved  by  an  officer  of  the  United  States  Army  :  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  of  the  Chiricahuas  was  returned  to  the  San 
Carlos  Agency  and  put  to  work.  They  had  the  usual  story  to  tell 
of  ill-treatment,  broken  pledges,  starvation,  and  other  incidentals, 
but  the  reader  has  perhaps  had  enough  of  that  kind  of  narrative. 
The  last  straw  which  drove  them  out  from  the  agency  was  the 


454          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

attempt  to  arrest  one  of  their  young  men  for  some  trivial  offence. 
The  Chiricahuas  found  no  fault  with  the  arrest  in  itself.,  but  were 
incensed  at  the  high-handed  manner  in  which  the  chief  of  police 
had  attempted  to  carry  it  out  :  the  young  buck  started  to  run 
away  and  did  not  halt  when  summoned  to  do  so  by  the  chief  of 
police,  but  kept  on  in  his  retreat  among  a  crowd  of  children  and 
squaws.  The  chief  of  police  then  fired,  and,  his  aim  not  being 
good,  killed  one  of  the  squaws  ;  for  this  he  apologized,  but  the 
Chiricahuas  got  it  into  their  heads  that  he  ought  not  to  have  fired 
in  the  first  place ;  they  dissembled  their  resentment  for  a  few 
days  until  they  had  caught  the  chief  of  police,  killed  him,  cut 
off  his  head,  played  a  game  of  football  with  it,  and  started  for 
the  Mexican  boundary  in  high  glee. 

Crook's  expedition  passed  down  through  the  hamlets  of  Hua- 
chinera,  Basaraca,  and  Bavispe,  Sonora,  where  occurred  the  ter 
rible  earthquake  of  the  next  year.  Mexican  eye-witnesses  asserted 
that  the  two  or  three  ranges  of  mountains  which  at  that  point 
form  the  Sierra  Madre  played  hide-and-seek  with  each  other,  one 
range  rising  and  the  others  falling.  The  description,  which  had 
all  the  stamp  of  truth,  recalled  the  words  of  the  Old  Testament : 
"  What  ailed  thee,  0  sea,  that  thou  didst  flee  ?  And  thou,  0 
Jordan,  that  thou  wast  turned  back  ?  Ye  mountains,  that  ye 
skipped  like  rams  ;  and  ye  hills,  like  the  lambs  of  the  flock  ?" 

General  Crook  was  about  this  time  made  the  target  of  every 
sort  of  malignant  and  mendacious  assault  by  the  interests  which 
he  had  antagonized.  The  telegraph  wires  were  loaded  with  false 
reports  of  outrages,  attacks,  and  massacres  which  had  never  oc 
curred  ;  these  reports  were  scattered  broadcast  with  the  intention 
and  in  the  hope  that  they  might  do  him  injury.  Crook  made 
no  reply  to  these  scurrilous  attempts  at  defamation,  knowing 
that  duty  well  performed  will  in  the  end  secure  the  recognition 
and  approval  of  all  fair-minded  people,  the  only  ones  whose 
recognition  and  approval  are  worth  having.  But  he  did  order 
the  most  complete  investigation  to  be  made  of  each  and  every 
report,  and  in  each  and  every  case  the  utter  recklessness  of  the 
authors  of  these  lies  was  made  manifest.  Only  one  example 
need  be  given — the  so-called  "  Buckhorn  Basin  Massacre,"  in 
which  was  presented  a  most  circumstantial  and  detailed  narrative 
of  the  surrounding  and  killing  by  a  raiding  party  of  Apaches  of 
a  small  band  of  miners,  who  were  forced  to  seek  safety  in  a  cave 


SENSATIONAL  STORIES.  455 

from  which  they  fought  to  the  death.  This  story  was  investi 
gated  by  Major  William  0.  Rafferty,  Sixth  Cavalry,  who  found 
no  massacre,  no  Indians,  no  miners,  no  cave,  nothing  but  a  Buck- 
horn  basin. 

There  was  a  small  set  of  persons  who  took  pleasure  in  dissemi 
nating  such  rumors,  the  motive  of  some  being  sensationalism 
merely,  that  of  others  malice  or  a  desire  to  induce  the  bringing 
in  of  more  troops  from  whose  movements  and  needs  they  might 
make  money.  Such  people  did  not  reflect,  or  did  not  care,  that 
the  last  result  of  this  conduct,  if  persisted  in,  would  be  to  deter 
capital  from  seeking  investment  in  a  region  which  did  not  re 
quire  the  gilding  of  refined  gold  or  the  painting  of  the  lily  to 
make  it  appear  the  Temple  of  Horrors  ;  surely,  enough  blood  had 
been  shed  in  Arizona  to  make  the  pages  of  her  history  red  for 
years  to  come,  without  inventing  additional  enormities  to  scare 
away  the  immigration  which  her  mines  and  forests,  her  cattle 
pasturage  and  her  fruit-bearing  oases,  might  well  attract. 

It  was  reported  that  the  Chiricahua  prisoners  had  been  allowed 
to  drive  across  the  boundary  herds  of  cattle  captured  from  the 
Mexicans  ;  for  this  there  was  not  the  slightest  foundation.  When 
the  last  of  the  Chiricahuas,  the  remnant  of  "  JuV  band,  which 
had  been  living  nearly  two  hundred  miles  south  of  "  Geronimo's  " 
people  in  the  Sierra  Madre,  arrived  at  the  international  boundary, 
a  swarm  of  claimants  made  demand  for  all  the  cattle  with  them. 
Each  cow  had,  it  would  seem,  not  less  than  ten  owners,  and  as  in 
the  Southwest  the  custom  was  to  put  on  the  brand  of  the  purchaser 
as  well  as  the  vent  brand  of  the  seller,  each  animal  down  there 
was  covered  from  brisket  to  rump  with  more  or  less  plainly 
discernible  marks  of  ownership.  General  Crook  knew  that  there 
must  be  a  considerable  percentage  of  perjury  in  all  this  mass  of 
affidavits,  and  wisely  decided  that  the  cattle  should  be  driven  up 
to  the  San  Carlos  Agency,  and  there  herded  under  guard  in  the 
best  obtainable  pasturage  until  fat  enough  to  be  sold  to  the  best 
advantage.  The  brand  of  each  of  the  cattle,  probable  age,  name 
of  purchaser,  amount  realized,  and  other  items  of  value,  were 
preserved,  and  copies  of  them  are  to  be  seen  in  my  note-books  of 
that  date.  The  moneys  realized  from  the  sale  were  forwarded 
through  the  official  military  channels  to  Washington,  thence  to 
be  sent  through  the  ordinary  course  of  diplomatic  correspondence 
to  the  Government  of  Mexico,  which  would  naturally  be  more 


456          ON  -THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

competent  to  determine  the  validity  of  claims  -and  make  the 
most  sensible  distribution. 

There  were  other  parties  in  Arizona  who  disgraced  the  Terri 
tory  by  proposing  to  murder  the  Apaches  on  the  San  Carlos,  who 
had  sent  their  sons  to  the  front  to  aid  the  whites  in  the  search 
for  the  hostiles  and  their  capture  or  destruction.  These  men 
organized  themselves  into  a  company  of  military,  remembered  in 
the  Territory  as  the  "  Tombstone  Toughs/'  and  marched  upon  the 
San  Carlos  with  the  loudly-heralded  determination  to  "  clean  out " 
all  in  sight.  They  represented  all  the  rum-poisoned  bummers  of 
the  San  Pedro  Valley,  and  no  community  was  more  earnest  in  its 
appeals  to  them  to  stay  in  the  field  until  the  last  armed  foe 
expired  than  was  Tombstone,  the  town  from  which  they  had 
started  ;  never  before  had  Tombstone  enjoyed  such  an  era  of 
peace  and  quiet,  and  her  citizens  appreciated  the  importance  of 
keeping  the  "Toughs"  in  the  field  as  long  as  possible.  The 
commanding  officer,  of  the  "Toughs"  was  a  much  better  man 
than  the  gang  who  staggered  along  on  the  trail  behind  him  :  he 
kept  the  best  saloon  in  Tombstone,  and  was  a  candidate  for 
political  honors.  When  last  I  heard  of  him,  some  six  years 
since,  he  was  keeping  a  saloon  in  San  Francisco. 

All  that  the  " Tombstone  Toughs"  did  in  the  way  of  war  was 
to  fire  upon  one  old  Indian,  a  decrepit  member  of  "  Eskiminzin's  " 
band,  which  had  been  living  at  peace  on  the  lower  San  Pedro 
ever  since  permission  had  been  granted  them  to  do  so  by  General 
Howard ;  they  were  supporting  themselves  by  farming  and  stock- 
raising,  and  were  never  accused  of  doing  harm  to  any  one  all  the 
time  they  remained  in  that  place.  White  settlers  lived  all 
around  them  with  whom  their  relations  were  most  friendly.  The 
"Toughs"  fired  at  this  old  man  and  then  ran  away,  leaving  the 
white  women  of  the  settlements,  whose  husbands  were  nearly  all 
absent  from  home,  to  bear  the  brunt  of  vengeance.  I  have 
before  me  the  extract  from  the  Citizen  of  Tucson,  which  de 
scribes  this  flight  of  the  valiant  "Toughs":  "leaving  the  settlers 
to  fight  it  out  with  the  Indians  and  suffer  for  the  rash  acts  of 
these  senseless  cowards,  who  sought  to  kill  a  few  peaceable 
Indians,  and  thereby  gain  a  little  cheap  notoriety,  which  can 
not  result  otherwise  than  disastrously  to  the  settlers  in  that 
vicinity."  "The  attack  of  the  Eangers  was  shameful,  cowardly, 
and  foolish.  They  should  be  taken  care  of  at  once,  and  punished 


THE   APACHES  AS  FARMERS.  457 

according  to  the  crime  they  have  committed."  It  is  only  just 
that  the  above  should  be  inserted  as  a  proof  that  there  are  many 
intelligent,  fair-minded  people  on  the  frontier,  who  deprecate 
and  discountenance  anything  like  treachery  towards  Indians 
who  are  peaceably  disposed. 

By  the  terms  of  the  conference  entered  into  between  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interior,  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs, 
the  Secretary  of  War,  and  Brigadier-General  Crook,  on  the  7th  of 
July,  1883,  it  was  stipulated  that  "the  Apache  Indians  recently 
captured,  and  all  such  as  may  hereafter  be  captured  or  may 
surrender,  shall  be  kept  under  the  control  of  the  War  Depart 
ment  at  such  points  on  the  San  Carlos  Eeservation  as  may  be 
determined  by  the  War  Department,  but  not  at  the  agency  with 
out  the  consent  of  the  Indian  agent — to  be  fed  and  cared  for 
by  the  War  Department  until  further  orders.  .  .  .  The  War 
Department  shall  be  intrusted  with  the  entire  police  control  of 
all  the  Indians  on  the  San  Carlos  Reservation.  The  War  Depart 
ment  shall  protect  the  Indian  agent  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties 
as  agent,  which  shall  include  the  ordinary  duties  of  an  Indian 
agent  and  remain  as  heretofore  except  as  to  keeping  peace, 
administering  justice,  and  punishing  refractory  Indians,  all  of 
which  shall  be  done  by  the  War  Department/' 

In  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  above  conference,  five 
hundred  and  twelve  of  the  Chiricahua  Apaches — being  the  last 
man,  woman,  and  child  of  the  entire  band — were  taken  to  the 
country  close  to  Camp  Apache,  near  the  head -waters  of  the  Turkey 
Creek,  where,  as  well  as  on  a  part  of  the  White  River,  they  were 
set  to  work  upon  small  farms.  Peace  reigned  in  Arizona,  and  for 
two  years  her  record  of  deaths  by  violence,  at  the  hands  of  red 
men  at  least,  would  compare  with  the  best  record  to  be  shown  by 
any  State  in  the  East ;  in  other  words,  there  were  no  such  deaths 
and  no  assaults.  That  Apaches  will  work  may  be  shown  by  the 
subjoined  extracts  from  the  official  reports,  beginning  with  that  of 
1883,  just  one  year  after  the  re-assignment  of  General  Crook  to 
the  command  :  "  The  increase  of  cultivation  this  year  over  last 
I  believe  has  been  tenfold.  The  Indians  during  the  past  year 
have  raised  a  large  amount  of  barley,  which  they  have  disposed 
of,  the  largest  part  of  it  being  sold  to  the  Government  for  the  use 
of  the  animals  in  the  public  service  here.  Some  has  been  sold  to 
the  Indian  trader,  and  quite  an  amount  to  freighters  passing 


458          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

through  between  Wilcox  and  G-lobe.  Their  corn  crop  is  large  ;  I 
think,  after  reserving  what  will  be  needed  for  their  own  con 
sumption  and  seed  for  next  year,  they  will  have  some  for  sale. 
The  only  market  they  have  for  their  produce  is  from  freighters, 
the  trader,  and  the  Q.  M.  Department  here.  They  are  being 
encouraged  to  store  their  corn  away  and  use  it  for  meal ;  for  this 
purpose  there  should  be  a  grist-mill  here  and  one  at  Fort  Apache. 
They  have  cut  and  turned  in  during  the  year  to  the  Q.  M. 
Department  and  at  the  agency  about  four  hundred  tons  of  hay 
cut  with  knives  and  three  hundred  cords  of  wood,  for  which  they 
have  been  paid  a  liberal  price. "  Attached  to  the  same  report  was 
the  following  :  "  Statement  showing  the  amount  of  produce  raised 
by  the  Apache  Indians  on  the  White  Mountain  Indian  Reservation 
during  the  year  1883  :  2,625,000  Ibs.  of  corn,  180,000  Ibs.  of 
beans,  135,000  Ibs.  of  potatoes,  12,600  Ibs.  of  wheat,  200,000  Ibs. 
of  barley,  100,000  pumpkins,  20,000  watermelons,  10,000  musk- 
melons,  10,000  cantelopes.  Small  patches  of  cabbage,  onions, 
cucumbers,  and  lettuce  have  been  raised.  (Signed)  EMMET 
CRAWFORD,  Captain  Third  Cavalry,  Commanding." 

I  have  seen  Indian  bucks  carrying  on  their  backs  great  bundles 
of  hay  cut  with  knives,  which  they  sold  in  the  town  of  Globe  to 
the  stable  owners  and  keepers  of  horses. 

During  that  winter  General  Crook  wrote  the  following  letter, 
which  expresses  his  views  on  the  subject  of  giving  the  franchise 
to  Indians ;  it  was  dated  January  5,  1885,  and  was  addressed 
to,Mr.  Herbert  Welsh,  Secretary  of  the  Indian  Rights  Associa 
tion,  Philadelphia  : 

"  MY  DEAB  MR.  WELSH  : 

"  The  law  prohibiting  the  sale  of  liquor  to  Indians  is  practically  a  dead 
letter.  Indians  who  so  desire  can  to-day  obtain  from  unprincipled  whites 
and  others  all  the  vile  whiskey  for  which  they  can  pay  cash,  which  is  no 
more  and  no  less  than  the  Indian  as  a  citizen  could  purchase.  The  propo 
sition  I  make  on  behalf  of  the  Indian  is,  that  he  is  at  this  moment  capable, 
with  very  little  instruction,  of  exercising  every  manly  right ;  he  doesn't  need 
to  have  so  much  guardianship  as  so  many  people  would  have  us  believe  ; 
what  he  does  need  is  protection  under  the  law  ;  the  privilege  of  suing  in  the 
courts,  which  privilege  must  be  founded  upon  the  franchise  to  be  of  the  slight 
est  value. 

"  If  with  the  new  prerogatives,  individual  Indians  continue  to  use  alco 
holic  stimulants,  we  must  expect  to  see  them  rise  or  fall  socially  as  do  white 
men  under  similar  circumstances.  For  my  own  part,  I  question  very  much 


LETTER  OF  GENERAL  CROOK.          459 

whether  we  should  not  find  the  Indians  who  would  then  be  drunkards  to  be  the 
very  same  ones  who  under  present  surroundings  experience  no  difficulty  what 
ever  in  gratifying  this  cursed  appetite.  The  great  majority  of  Indians  are 
wise  enough  to  recognize  the  fact  that  liquor  is  the  worst  foe  to  their  advance 
ment.  Complaints  have  frequently  been  made  by  them  to  me  that  well-known 
parties  had  maintained  this  illicit  traffic  with  members  of  their  tribe,  but  no 
check  could  be  imposed  or  punishment  secured  for  the  very  good  reason  that 
Indian  testimony  carries  no  weight  whatever  with  a  white  jury.  Now  by 
arming  the  red  men  with  the  franchise,  we  remove  this  impediment,  and  pro 
vide  a  cure  for  the  very  evil  which  seems  to  excite  so  much  apprehension ; 
besides  this,  we  would  open  a  greater  field  of  industrial  development.  The 
majority  of  the  Indians  whom  I  have  met  are  perfectly  willing  to  work  for 
their  white  neighbors,  to  whom  they  can  make  themselves  serviceable  in  many 
offices,  such  as  teaming,  herding,  chopping  wood,  cutting  hay,  and  harvesting; 
and  for  such  labor  there  is  at  nearly  all  times  a  corresponding  demand  at  rea 
sonable  wages.  Unfortunately,  there  are  many  unscrupulous  characters  to 
be  found  near  all  reservations  who  don't  hesitate  after  employing  Indians  to 
defraud  them  of  the  full  amount  agreed  upon.  Several  such  instances  have 
been  brought  to  my  notice  during  the  present  year,  but  there  was  no  help  for 
the  Indian,  who  could  not  bring  suit  in  the  courts.  Every  such  swindle  is  a 
discouragement  both  to  the  Indian  most  directly  concerned  and  to  a  large 
circle  of  interested  friends,  who  naturally  prefer  the  relations  of  idleness  to 
work  which  brings  no  remuneration. 

"  Our  object  should  be  to  get  as  much  voluntary  labor  from  the  Indian  as 
possible.  Every  dollar  honestly  gained  by  hard  work  is  so  much  subtracted 
from  the  hostile  element  and  added  to  that  which  is  laboring  for  peace  and 
civilization.  In  conclusion,  I  wish  to  say  that  the  American  Indian  is  the 
intellectual  peer  of  most,  if  not  all,  the  various  nationalities  we  have  assimi 
lated  to  our  laws,  customs,  and  language.  He  is  fully  able  to  protect  himself 
if  the  ballot  be  given,  and  the  courts  of  law  not  closed  against  him.  If  our 
aim  be  to  remove  the  aborigine  from  a  state  of  servile  dependence,  we  cannot 
begin  in  a  better  or  more  practical  way  than  by  making  him  think  well  of 
himself,  to  force  upon  him  the  knowledge  that  he  is  part  and  parcel  of  the 
nation,  clothed  with  all  its  political  privileges,  entitled  to  share  in  ail  its 
benefits.  Our  present  treatment  degrades  him  in  his  own  eyes,  by  making 
evident  the  difference  between  his  own  condition  and  that  of  those  about  him. 
To  sum  up,  my  panacea  for  the  Indian  trouble  is  to  make  the  Indian  self- 
supporting,  a  condition  which  can  never  be  attained,  in  my  opinion,  so  long 
as  the  privileges  which  have  made  labor  honorable,  respectable,  and  able  to 
defend  itself,  be  withheld  from  him." 

Chancellor  Kent  has  well  said  that  unity  increases  the  efficien 
cy,  by  increasing  the  responsibility,  of  the  executive.  This  rule 
applies  to  every  department  of  life.  The  dual  administration  of 
the  Apache  reservation,  by  the  Departments  of  War  and  the  In 
terior,  did  not  succeed  so  well  as  was  at  first  expected  :  there  were 


460  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

constant  misunderstandings,  much  friction,  with  complaints  and 
recriminations.  Captain  Crawford  had  won  in  a  remarkable  de 
gree  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  the  Indians  upon  the  reserva 
tion,  who  looked  up  to  him  as  a  faithful  mentor  and  friend.  They 
complained  that  certain  cows  which  had  been  promised  them  were 
inferior  in  quality,  old  and  past  the  age  for  breeding,  and  not  equal 
to  the  number  promised.  This  complaint  was  forwarded  through 
the  routine  channels  to  Washington,  and  the  Interior  Department 
ordered  out  an  inspector  who  reported  every  thing  serene  at  the 
agency  and  on  the  reservation.  The  report  did  not  satisfy  either 
Indians  or  whites,  but  upon  receiving  the  report  of  its  inspecting 
officer  the  Interior  Department  requested  that  Captain  Crawford 
be  relieved,  coupling  the  request  with  remarks  which  Crawford 
took  to  be  a  reflection  upon  his  character ;  he  thereupon  demanded 
and  was  accorded  by  his  military  superiors  a  court  of  inquiry,  which 
was  composed  of  Major  Biddle,  Sixth  Cavalry,  Major  Purington, 
Third  Cavalry,  Captain  Dougherty,  First  Infantry,  as  members,  and 
First  Lieutenant  George  S.Anderson,  Sixth  Cavalry,  as  Recorder. 
This  court,  all  of  whose  xmembers  were  officers  of  considerable  ex 
perience  in  the  Indian  country,  and  one  of  whom  (Dougherty)  had 
been  in  charge  of  one  of  the  largest  Sioux  reservations  in  Dakota, 
set  about  its  work  with  thoroughness,  examined  all  witnesses  and 
amassed  a  quantity  of  testimony  in  which  it  was  shown  that  the 
Apaches  had  good  ground  of  complaint  both  in  the  character  and 
in  the  number  of  cows  supplied  them  :  they  were  in  many  cases 
old  and  unserviceable,  and  instead  of  there  being  one  thousand 
there  were  scarcely  six  hundred,  the  missing  cattle  being  covered 
by  what  was  termed  a  "due  bill/'  made  out  by  the  contractor, 
agreeing  to  drive  in  the  missing  ones  upon  demand. 

There  was  only  one  serious  case  of  disturbance  among  the  Chiri- 
cahua  Apaches:  the  young  chief  "Ka-e-ten-na "  became  restless 
under  the  restraints  of  the  reservation,  and  sighed  to  return  to 
the  wild  freedom  of  the  Sierra  Madre.  He  was  closely  watched, 
and  all  that  he  did  was  reported  to  headquarters  by  the  Indian 
scouts.  General  Crook  was  absent  at  the  time,  by  direction  of  the 
Secretary  of  War,  delivering  the  address  to  the  graduating  class 
at  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point ;  but  Major  Barber,  Adju 
tant-General,  carried  out  Crook's  methods,  and  the  surly  young 
man  was  arrested  by  his  own  people,  tried  by  his  own  people,  and 
sentenced  to  be  confined  in  some  place  until  he  learned  sense.  He 


GENERAL  CROOK'S   REPORT.  461 

was  sent  to  Alcatraz  Island,  in  San  Francisco  Harbor,  where  he 
remained  twelve  months,  the  greater  part  of  the  time  being  allowed 
to  see  the  sights  of  the  city  and  to  become  saturated  with  an  idea 
of  the  white  man's  power  in  numbers,  wealth,  machinery,  and  other 
resources.  He  became  a  great  friend,  and  rendered  great  help,  to 
General  Crook  later  on. 

Under  date  of  January  20,  1885,  General  Crook  wrote  as 
follows  to  his  military  superiors  : 

"  In  the  event  that  the  views  of  the  Indian  agent  are  approved,  I  respectfully 
request  that  matters  referred  to  in  the  agreement  be  relegated  to  the  control  of 
the  Interior  Department,  and  that  I  be  relieved  from  all  the  responsibilities 
therein  imposed." 

In  forwarding  the  above  communication  to  Washington, 
General  John  Pope,  commanding  the  Military  Division  of  the 
Pacific,  indorsed  the  following  views  : 

"  Respectfully  forwarded  to  the  adjutant-general  of  the  army.  It  is  need 
less  to  reiterate  what  the  authorities  in  Washington  and  everybody  in  this 
region  know  perfectly  well  now.  General  Crook's  management  of  these  In 
dians  has  been  marked  by  unusual  and  surprising  success,  and  if  matters 
are  left  in  his  charge  a  very  few  years  longer  all  fears  of  Indian  trouble  in 
Arizona  may  be  dismissed. 

"  One  of  the  difficulties  (and  the  principal  one)  he  has  met  with  is  the  con 
stant  discord  between  the  civilian  Indian  agents  and  the  military.  It  is  riot 
even  hoped  that  a  stop  may  be  put  to  such  controversies  so  long  as  there  is 
a  joint  jurisdiction  over  the  Arizona  Indians.  It  is  not  human  nature  that 
such  an  anomalous  relation  should  escape  such  troubles,  but  in  view  of  Gen 
eral  Crook's  superior  ability  and  experience,  and  the  great  success  he  has  met 
with,  I  must  emphatically  recommend  that,  instead  of  relieving  him  as  he 
suggests,  the  entire  control  of  the  Indians  be  turned  over  to  him. 

"(Signed)    JOHN  POPE,  Major-General.'9 

For  people  interested  in  the  question  of  Indian  management 
and  of  Indian  pacification,  no  more  important  document  can  be 
presented  than  General  Crook's  Annual  Report  for  the  year  1885. 
As  this  document  will  not  be  accessible  to  every  reader,  I  will 
take  the  liberty  of  making  a  number  of  extracts  from  it,  at  the 
same  time  warning  the  student  that  nothing  will  compensate  him 
for  a  failure  to  peruse  the  complete  report. 

In  answer  to  the  letter  forwarded  with  an  indorsement  by 
Major-General  Pope,  given  above,  General  Crook  received  a  tele 
gram  dated  Washington,  February  14,  1885,  which  directed 


462  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

him,  pending  conferences  between  the  Interior  and  War  Depart 
ments  with  a  view  of  harmonizing  matters,  "  not  to  interfere 
with  farming  operations  of  Indians  who  are  not  considered  as 
prisoners/' 

General  Crook  replied  in  these  terms  : 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  say  that  the  agreement  of  July  7,  1883,  by  which 
'  the  War  Department  was  intrusted  with  the  entire  police  control  of  all  the 
Indians  on  the  San  Carlos  reservation,'  was  entered  into  upon  my  own  ex 
pressed  willingness  to  be  personally  responsible  for  the  good  conduct  of  all 
the  Indians  there  congregated.  My  understanding  then  was.  and  still  is, 
that  I  should  put  them  to  work  and  set  them  to  raising  corn  instead  of  scalps. 
This  right  I  have  exercised  for  two  years  without  a  word  of  complaint  from 
any  source.  During  all  this  time  not  a  single  depredation  of  any  kind  has 
been  committed.  The  whole  country  has  looked  to  me  individually  for  the 
preservation  of  order  among  the  Apaches,  and  the  prevention  of  the  outrages 
from  which  the  southwest  frontier  has  suffered  for  so  many  years. 

"  In  pursuance  of  this  understanding,  the  Chiricahuas,  although  nominally 
prisoners,  have  been  to  a  great  extent  scattered  over  the  reservation  and 
placed  upon  farms,  the  object  being  to  quietly  and  gradually  effect  a  tribal 
disintegration  and  lead  them  out  from  a  life  of  vagabondage  to  one  of  peace 
and  self -maintenance.  They  have  ramified  among  the  other  Apaches  to  such 
an  extent  that  it  is  impossible  to  exercise  jurisdiction  over  them  without  exer 
cising  it  over  the  others  as  well.  At  the  same  time  trusted  Indians  of  the 
peaceful  bands  are  better  enabled  to  keep  the  scattered  Chiricahuas  under 
constant  surveillance,  while  the  incentive  to  industry  and  good  conduct  which 
the  material  prosperity  of  the  settled  Apaches  brings  to  the  notice  of  the 
Chiricahuas  is  so  palpable  that  it  is  hardly  worth  while  to  allude  to  it.  As 
this  right  of  control  has  now  been  withdrawn  from  me,  I  must  respectfully 
decline  to  be  any  longer  held  responsible  for  the  behavior  of  any  of  the 
Indians  on  that  reservation.  Further,  I  regret  being  compelled  to  say  that  in 
refusing  to  relieve  me  from  this  responsibility  (as  requested  in  my  letter  of 
January  20th),  and  at  the  same  time  taking  from  me  the  power  by  which 
these  dangerous  Indians  have  been  controlled  and  managed  and  compelled  to 
engage  in  industrial  pursuits,  the  War  Department  destroys  my  influence 
and  does  an  injustice  to  me  and  the  service  which  I  represent. " 

The  indorsement  of  Major-General  John  Pope,  the  com 
mander  of  the  military  division,  was  even  more  emphatic  than 
the  preceding  one  had  been,  but  for  reasons  of  brevity  it  is 
omitted  excepting  these  words. 

"If  General  Crook's  authority  over  the  Indians  at  San  Carlos  be  curtailed 
or  modified  in  any  way,  there  are  certain  to  follow  very  serious  results,  if  not 
a  renewal  of  Indian  wars  and  depredations  in  Arizona." 


THE  EXODUS  OF  THE  CHIRICAHUAS.  463 

These  papers  in  due  course  of  time  were  referred  by  the  War 
to  the  Interior  Department,  in  a  communication  the  terminal 
paragraph  of  which  reads  as  follows,  under  date  of  March  28, 
1885  : 

"  I  submit  for  your  consideration  whether  it  is  not  desirable  and  advisable 
in  the  public  interests,  that  the  entire  control  of  these  Indians  be  placed  under 
the  charge  of  General  Crook,  with  full  authority  to  prescribe  and  enforce 
such  regulations  for  their  management  as  in  his  judgment  may  be  proper, 
independently  of  the  duties  of  the  civil  agents,  and  upon  this  question  this 
Department  will  appreciate  an  early  expression  of  your  views. 

"(Signed)    WILLIAM  C.  ENDICOTT,  Secretary  of  War." 

One  of  the  principal  causes  of  trouble  was  the  disinclination  of 
the  agent  to  permit  the  Apaches  to  excavate  and  blast  an  irri 
gating  ditch,  which  had  been  levelled  and  staked  out  for  them  by 
Lieutenant  Thomas  Dugan,  Third  Cavalry,  one  of  Captain  Craw 
ford's  assistants,  the  others  being  Parker,  West,  and  Britton 
Davis  of  the  Third  Cavalry,  Elliott  of  the  Fourth  Cavalry,  and 
Strother  of  the  First  Infantry.  Captain  Crawford,  feeling  that 
his  usefulness  had  gone,  applied  to  be  relieved  from  his  duties  at 
the  San  Carlos  and  allowed  to  rejoin  his  regiment,  which  appli 
cation  was  granted,  and  his  place  was  taken  by  Captain  Pierce, 
of  the  First  Infantry,  who  was  also  clothed  with  the  powers  of 
the  civil  agent. 

It  was  too  late.  The  Chiricahuas  had  perceived  that  harmony 
did  not  exist  between  the  officials  of  the  Government,  and  they 
had  become  restless,  suspicious,  and  desirous  of  resuming  their 
old  career.  A  small  number  of  them  determined  to  get  back  to 
the  Sierra  Madre  at  all  hazards,  but  more  than  three-fourths  con 
cluded  to  remain.  On  the  17th  of  May,  1885,  one  hundred  and 
twenty-four  Chiricahuas,  of  all  ages  and  both  sexes,  under  the 
command  of  "  Geronimo "  and  "Nachez,"  the  two  chiefs  who 
had  been  most  energetic  in  their  farm  work,  broke  out  from  the 
reservation,  but  the  other  three-fourths  listened  to  the  counsels 
of  "  Chato,"  who  was  unfriendly  to  "  Geronimo  "  and  adhered 
to  the  cause  of  the  white  man.  It  has  never  been  ascertained  for 
what  special  reason,  real  or  assigned,  the  exodus  was  made.  It 
is  known  that  for  several  days  and  nights  before  leaving,  "  Ge 
ronimo  "  and  "  Nachez,"  with  some  of  their  immediate  followers, 
had  been  indulging  in  a  prolonged  debauch  upon  the  "tizwin" 
of  the  tribe,  and  it  is  supposed  that  fearing  the  punishment  which 


464          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

was  always  meted  out  to  those  caught  perpetuating  the  use  of  this 
debasing  intoxicant,,  they  in  a  drunken  frenzy  sallied  out  for  the 
Sierra  Madre.  Lieutenant  Britton  Davis,  Third  Cavalry,  under 
whose  control  the  Chiricahuas  were,  telegraphed  at  once  to  Gen 
eral  Crook,  but  the  wires  were  working  badly  and  the  message  was 
never  delivered.  Had  the  message  reached  Crook  it  is  not  likely 
that  any  trouble  would  have  occurred,  as  he  would  have  arranged 
the  whole  business  in  a  mome'nt.  To  quote  his  own  words  as 
given  in  the  very  report  under  discussion  : 

• '  It  should  not  be  expected  that  an  Indian  who  has  lived  as  a  barbarian  all 
his  life  will  become  an  angel  the  moment  he  comes  on  a  reservation  and 
promises  to  behave  himself,  or  that  he  has  that  strict  sense  of  honor  which  a 
person  should  have  who  has  had  the  advantage  of  civilization  all  his  life, 
and  the  benefit  of  a  moral  training  and  character  which  has  been  transmitted  to 
him  through  a  long  line  of  ancestors.  It  requires  constant  watching  and  knowl 
edge  of  their  character  to  keep  them  from  going  wrong.  They  are  children 
in  ignorance,  not  in  innocence.  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  in  the 
least  palliating  their  crimes,  but  I  wish  to  say  a  word  to  stem  the  torrent  of 
invective  and  abuse  which  has  almost  universally  been  indulged  in  against 
the  whole  Apache  race.  This  is  not  strange  on  the  frontier  from  a  certain 
class  of  vampires  who  prey  on  the  misfortunes  of  their  fellow-men,  and  who 
live  best  and  easiest  in  time  of  Indian  troubles.  With  them  peace  kills  the 
goose  that  lays  the  golden  egg.  Greed  and  avarice  on  the  part  of  the  whites 
— in  other  words,  the  almighty  dollar — is  at  the  bottom  of  nine-tenths  of  all 
our  Indian  trouble." 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 


THE  APACHES — THE  PURSUIT  OP  THE  HOSTILES — THE  HARD 
WORK  OF  THE  TROOPS — EFFICIENT  AND  FAITHFUL  SER 
VICE  OF  THE  CHIRICAHUA  SCOUTS — WAR  DANCES  AND 
SPIRIT  DANCES — CAPTAIN  CRAWFORD  KILLED — A  YISIT  TO 
THE  HOSTILE  STRONGHOLD — A  "  NERVY  "  PHOTOGRAPHER — 
A  WHITE  BOY  CAPTIVE  AMONG  THE  APACHES — "  ALCHISEV 

AND  "  KA-E-TEN-NA'S"  GOOD  WORK—  "  GERONIMO  "  SUR 
RENDERS  TO  CROOK. 

TO  show  that  Apaches  will  work  under  anything  like  proper 
encouragement,  the  reader  has  only  to  peruse  these  extracts 
from  the  annual  report  of  Captain  F.  E.  Pierce,  who  succeeded 
Captain  Emmet  Crawford  : 

"  They  have  about  eleven  hundred  acres  under  cultivation,  and  have  raised 
about  700,000  Ibs.  of  barley  and  an  equal  amount  of  corn.  They  have  de 
livered  to  the  Post  Quartermaster  here  60,000  Ibs.  of  barley  and  00,000  Ibs.  to 
the  agency,  have  hauled  66,0'  0  Ibs.  to  Thomas  and  about  180,000  Ibs.  to 
Globe,  and  still  have  about  330,000  Ibs.  on  hand.  Since  they  have  been 
hauling  barley  to  Thomas  and  Globe,  however,  where  they  receive  fair  prices, 
they  feel  much  better.  It  gives  them  an  opportunity  to  get  out  and  mingle 
with  people  of  the  world,  and  get  an  idea  of  the  manner  of  transacting 
business  and  a  chance  to  make  purchases  at  considerably  less  rates  than  if 
they  bought  of  the  Indian  traders  at  San  Carlos.  The  people  at  Globe  are 
particularly  kind  to  them,  and,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  deal  justly  with  them, 
and  the  more  respectable  ones  will  not  permit  the  unprincipled  to  impose  upon 
them  or  maltreat  them  in  any  way.  The  Indians  also  conduct  themselves 
properly,  and  all  citizens  with  whom  I  have  conversed  speak  very  highly  of  their 
conduct  while  in  Globe.  About  a  dozen  are  now  regularly  employed  there  at 
various  kinds  of  work  ;  and  they  are  encouraged  as  much  as  possible  to  seek 
work  with  citizens,  as  they  thereby  learn  much  that  will  be  of  benefit  to  them 
in  the  future.  Shortly  after  the  Chiricahua  outbreak,  word  was  sent  to  the 
head  of  each  band  that  General  Crook  wanted  two  hundred  more  scouts  to  take 
the  field,  and  all  who  wished  to  go  were  invited  to  appear  here  next  morning. 
It  is  difficult  to  say  how  many  reported,  but  almost  every  able-bodied  man 
came.  It  was  difficult  to  tell  which  ones  to  take  when  all  were  so  eager  to 
30 


466        '  ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

go.  But  a  body  of  as  fine  rnen  was  selected  as  could  well  be  secured  in  any 
country.  They  repeatedly  told  me  they  meant  fight  ;  that  they  intended  to 
do  the  best  they  could,  and  reports  from  the  field  show  that  they  have  made 
good  their  promises.  Sixteen  hundred  White  Mountain  Indians  have  been 
entirely  self -sustain  ing  for  nearly  three  years." 

The  Indians  at  the  White  Mountains,  according  to  the  official 
reports,  were  doing  remarkably  well. 

"At  this  date  there  have  been  700,000  pounds  of  hay  and  65,000  pounds  of 
barley  purchased  by  the  Quartermaster.  Of  course,  the  amount  of  hay  which 
will  yet  be  furnished  by  them  will  be  regulated  by  the  amount  required, 
which  will  be  in  all  about  1,800,000  pounds.  As  near  as  I  can  judge,  the  total 
yield  of  barley  will  be  about  80, 000  pounds,  or  about  double  the  quantity 
produced  last  year.  If  no  misfortune  happens  the  crops,  the  yield  of  corn  for 
this  year  should  fully  reach  3,500,000  pounds,  including  that  retained  by  the 
Indians  for  their  own  consumption  and  for  seed. 

1 '  Cantelopes,  watermelons,  muskmelons,  beans,  and  pumpkins  are  raised 
by  them  to  a  considerable  extent,  but  only  for  their  own  consumption,  there 
being  no  market  for  this  class  of  produce. 

44  A  few  of  the  Indians — principally  Chiricahuas — are  delivering  wood  on 
the  contract  at  the  post  of  Fort  Apache.  I  have  no  doubt  that  more  would 
engage  in  it  if  it  were  not  for  the  fact  that  the  White  Mountain  Apaches 
have  no  wagons  for  hauling  it." 

It  would  take  many  more  pages  than  I  care  to  devote  to  the  sub 
ject  to  properly  describe  the  awful  consequences  of  the  official 
blunder,  which  in  this  case  was  certainly  worse  than  a  crime,  shown 
in  the  bickerings  and  jealousies  between  the  representatives  of  the 
War  and  Interior  Departments,  which  culminated  in  the  "  Ger- 
onimo  "  outbreak  of  May,  1885.  Those  of  my  readers  who  have 
followed  this  recital  need  no  assurances  that  the  country  was  as 
rough  as  rocks  and  ravines,  deep  canons  and  mountain  streams, 
could  make  it ;  neither  do  they  need  to  be  assured  that  the  trail 
of  the  retreating  Chiricahuas  was  reddened  with  the  blood  of  the 
innocent  and  unsuspecting  settlers,  or  that  the  pursuit  made  by 
the  troops  was  energetic,  untiring,  and,  although  often  baffled, 
finally  successful.  No  more  arduous  and  faithful  work  was  ever 
done  by  any  military  commands  than  was  performed  by  those  of 
Emmet  Crawford,  Lieutenant  Britton  Davis,  Frank  L.  Bennett, 
Lieutenant  M.  W.  Day,  Surgeon  Bermingham,  and  Major  Wirfc 
Davis  in  tracking  the  scattered  fragments  of  the  "Geronimo" 
party  over  rocks  and  across  country  soaked  with  the  heavy 
rains  of  summer  which  obliterated  trails  as  fast  as  made.  The 


THE  VICTIMS  OF  THE  CHIRICAHUAS.  467 

work  done  by  "  Chato  "  and  the  Chiricahuas  who  had  remained 
on  the  reservation  was  of  an  inestimable  value,  and  was  fittingly 
recognized  by  General  Crook,  Captain  Crawford,  and  the  other 
officers  in  command  of  them. 

Thirty-nine  white  people  were  killed  in  New  Mexico  and  thirty 
four  in  Arizona,  as  established  in  official  reports  ;  in  addition  to 
these  there  were  numbers  of  friendly  Apaches  killed  by  the  rene 
gades,  notably  in  the  raid  made  by  the  latter  during  the  month  of 
November,  1885,  to  the  villages  near  Camp  Apache,  when  they 
killed  twelve  of  the  f  riendlies  and  carried  off  six  women  and  chil 
dren  captive.  The  White  Mountain  Apaches  killed  one  of  the 
hostile  Chiricahuas  and  cut  off  his  head.  On  the  23d  of  June, 
1885,  one  of  the  hostile  Chiricahua  women  was  killed  and  fifteen 
women  and  children  captured  in  an  engagement  in  the  Bavispe 
Mountains,  northeast  of  Opata  (Son bra,  Mexico),  by  Chiricahua 
Apache  scouts  under  command  of  Captain  Crawford  ;  these  pris 
oners  reported  that  one  of  their  warriors  had  been  shot  through 
the  knee-joint  in  this  affair,  but  was  carried  off  before  the  troops 
could  seize  him.  July  29,  1885,  two  of  the  hostile  Chiricahua 
bucks  were  ambushed  and  killed  in  the  Hoya  Mountains,  Sonora, 
by  the  detachment  of  Apache  scouts  with  Major  Wirt  Davis's  com 
mand.  August  7,  1885,  five  of  the  hostile  Chiricahuas  were 
killed  (three  bucks,  one  squaw,  and  one  boy  fifteen  years  old)  by 
the  Apache  scouts  of  Wirt  Davis's  command,  who  likewise  cap 
tured  fifteen  women  and  children  in  the  same  engagement  (north 
east  of  the  little  town  of  Nacori,  Sonora,  Mexico).  On  the  22d  of 
September,  1885,  the  same  scouts  killed  another  Chiricahua  in 
the  mountains  near  Bavispe. 

An  ex-army-officer,  writing  on  this  subject  of  scouting  in  the 
southwestern  country,  to  the  Republican,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  ex 
pressed  his  opinion  in  these  words  : 

"It  is  laid  down  in  our  army  tactics  (Upton's  'Cavalry  Tactics,'  p.  477), 
that  twenty-five  miles  a  day  is  the  maximum  that  cavalry  can  stand.  Bear 
this  in  mind,  and  also  that  here  is  an  enemy  with  a  thousand  miles  of  hilly  and 
sandy  country  to  run  over,  and  each  brave  provided  with  from  three  to  five 
ponies  trained  like  dogs.  They  carry  almost  nothing  but  arms  and  ammuni 
tion  ;  they  can  live  on  the  cactus  ;  they  can  go  more  than  forty-eight  hours 
without  water  ;  they  know  every  water-hole  and  every  foot  of  ground  in  this 
vast  extent  of  country  ;  they  have  incredible  powers  of  endurance  ;  they  run 
in  small  bands,  scattering  at  the  first  indications  of  pursuit.  What  can  the 
United  States  soldier,  mounted  on  his  heavy  American  horse,  with  the  neces- 


468          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

sary  forage,  rations,  and  camp  equipage,  do  as  against  this  supple,  untiring 
foe  ?  Nothing,  absolutely  nothing.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  these 
fiends  can  travel,  week  in  and  week  out,  at  the  rate  of  seventy  miles  a  day, 
and  this  over  the  most  barren  and  desolate  country  imaginable.  One  week 
of  such  work  will  kill  the  average  soldier  and  his  horse;  the  Apache  thrives 
on  it.  The  frontiersman,  as  he  now  exists,  is  simply  a  fraud  as  an  Indian- 
fighter.  He  may  be  good  for  a  dash,  but  he  lacks  endurance.  General 
Crook  has  pursued  the  only  possible  method  of  solving  this  problem.  He  has, 
to  the  extent  of  his  forces,  guarded  all  available  passes  with  regulars,  and  he 
has  sent  Indian  scouts  on  the  trail  after  Indians.  He  has  fought  the  devil 
with  fire.  Never  in  the  history  of  this  country  has  there  been  more  gallant, 
more  uncomplaining,  and  more  efficient  service  than  that  done  by  our  little 
army  in  the  attempt  to  suppress  this  Geronimo  outbreak."  .  .  . 

In  the  month  of  November  additional  scouts  were  enlisted  to 
take  the  place  of  those  whose  term  of  six  months  was  about  to 
expire.  It  was  a  great  time  at  San  Carlos,  and  the  "  medicine 
men"  were  in  all  their  glory;  of  course,  it  would  never  do  for 
the  scouts  to  start  out  without  the  customary  war  dance,  but 
besides  that  the  " medicine  men"  held  one  of  their  " spirit'' 
dances  to  consult  with  the  powers  of  the  other  world  and  learn 
what  success  was  to  be  expected.  I  have  several  times  had  the 
good  luck  to  be  present  at  these  "spirit  dances,"  as  well  as  to  be 
with  the  "medicine  men"  while  they  were  delivering  their  pre 
dictions  received  from  the  spirits,  but  on  the  present  occasion 
there  was  an  unusual  vehemence  in  the  singing,  and  an  unusual 
vim  and  energy  in  the  dancing,  which  would  betray  the  interest 
felt  in  the  outcome  of  the  necromancy.  A  war  dance,  attended 
by  more  than  two  hundred  men  and  women,  was  in  full  swing 
close  to  the  agency  buildings  in  the  changing  lights  and  shadows 
of  a  great  fire.  This  enabled  the  "medicine  men  "  to  secure  all 
the  more  privacy  for  their  own  peculiar  work,  of  which  I  was  an 
absorbed  spectator.  There  were  about  an  even  hundred  of  war 
riors  and  young  boys  not  yet  full  grown,  who  stood  in  a  circle 
surrounding  a  huge  bonfire,  kept  constantly  replenished  with 
fresh  fagots  by  assiduous  attendants.  At  one  point  of  the  cir 
cumference  were  planted  four  bunches  of  green  willow  branches, 
square  to  the  cardinal  points.  Seated  within  this  sacred  grove, 
as  I  may  venture  to  call  it,  as  it  represented  about  all  the  trees 
they  could  get  at  the  San  Carlos,  were  the  members  of  an  orches 
tra,  the  leader  of  which  with  a  small  curved  stick  beat  upon  the 
drum  improvised  out  of  an  iron  camp-kettle,  covered  with  soaped 


A  "SPIRIT  DANCE."  469 

calico,  and  partially  filled  with  water.  The  beat  of  this  rounded 
stick  was  a  peculiar  rubbing  thump,  the  blows  being  sliding. 
Near  this  principal  drummer  was  planted  a  sprig  of  cedar.  The 
other  musicians  beat  with  long  switches  upon  a  thin  raw-hide, 
lying  on  the  ground,  just  as  the  Sioux  did  at  their  sun  dance. 
There  were  no  women  present  at  this  time.  I  did  see  three  old 
hags  on  the  ground,  watching  the  whole  proceedings  with  curious 
eyes,  but  they  kept  at  a  respectful  distance,  and  were  Apache- 
Yumas  and  not  Apaches. 

The  orchestra  thumped  and  drummed  furiously,  and  the  leader 
began  to  intone,  in  a  gradually  increasing  loudness  of  voice  and 
with  much  vehemence,  a  "medicine"  song,  of  which  I  could 
distinguish  enough  to  satisfy  me  that  part  of  it  was  words, 
which  at  times  seemed  to  rudely  rhyme,  and  the  rest  of  it  the 
gibberish  of  "medicine"  incantation  which  I  had  heard  so  often 
while  on  the  Sierra  Madre  campaign  in  1883.  The  chorus 
seconded  this  song  with  all  their  powers,  and  whenever  the 
refrain  was  chanted  sang  their  parts  with  violent  gesticulations. 
Three  dancers,  in  full  disguise,  jumped  into  the  centre  of  the 
great  circle,  running  around  the  fire,  shrieking  and  muttering, 
encouraged  by  the  shouts  and  singing  of  the  on-lookers,  and  by 
the  drumming  and  incantation  of  the  chorus  which  now  swelled 
forth  at  full  lung-power.  Each  of  these  dancers  was  beautifully 
decorated ;  they  were  naked  to  the  waist,  wore  kilts  of  fringed 
buckskin,  bound  on  with  sashes,  and  moccasins  reaching  to  the 
knees.  Their  identity  was  concealed  by  head-dresses,  part  of 
which  was  a  mask  of  buckskin,  which  enveloped  the  head  as  well 
as  the  face,  and  was  secured  around  the  neck  by  a  "draw-string" 
to  prevent  its  slipping  out  of  place.  Above  this  extended  to  a 
height  of  two  feet  a  framework  of  slats  of  the  amole  stalk, 
each  differing  slightly  from  that  of  the  others,  but  giving  to  the 
wearer  an  imposing,  although  somewhat  grotesque  appearance. 
Each  "medicine  man's"  back,  arms,  and  shoulders  were  painted 
with  emblems  of  the  lightning,  arrow,  snake,  or  other  powers 
appealed  to  by  the  Apaches.  I  succeeded  in  obtaining  drawings 
of  all  these,  and  also  secured  one  of  these  head-dresses  of  the 
"  Cha-ja-la,"  as  they  are  called,  but  a  more  detailed  description 
does  not  seem  to  be  called  for  just  now.  Each  of  the  dancers 
was  provided  with  two  long  wands  or  sticks,  one  in  each  hand, 
with  which  they  would  point  in  every  direction,  principally 


470         ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

towards  the  cardinal  points.  When  they  danced,  they  jumped, 
pranced,  pirouetted,  and  at  last  circled  rapidly,  revolving  much 
as  the  dervishes  are  described  as  doing.  This  must  have  been 
hard  work,  because  their  bodies  were  soon  moist  with  perspira 
tion,  which  made  them  look  as  if  they  had  been  coated  with  oil. 

"Klashidn,"  the  young  man  who  had  led  me  down,  said  that 
the  orchestra  was  now  singing  to  the  trees  which  had  been 
planted  in  the  ground,  and  I  then  saw  that  a  fourth  "  medicine 
man,"  who  acted  with  the  air  of  one  in  authority,  had  taken  his 
station  within.  When  the  dancers  had  become  thoroughly  ex 
hausted,  they  would  dart  out  of  the  ring  and  disappear  in  the 
gloom  to  consult  with  the  spirits  ;  three  several  times  they 
appeared  and  disappeared,  at  each  return  dancing,  running,  and 
whirling  about  with  increased  energy.  Having  attained  the 
degree  of  mental  or  spiritual  exaltation  necessary  for  satisfac 
tory  communion  with  the  denizens  of  the  other  world,  they  re 
mained  absent  for  at  least  half  an  hour,  the  orchestra  rendering 
a  monotonous  refrain,  mournful  as  a  funeral  dirge.  At  last  a 
thrill  of  expectancy  ran  through  the  throng,  and  I  saw  that 
they  were  looking  anxiously  for  the  incoming  of  the  "  medicine 
men."  When  they  arrived  all  the  orchestra  stood  up,  their 
leader  slightly  in  advance,  holding  a  bunch  of  cedar  in  his  left 
hand.  The  " medicine  men"  advanced  in  single  file,  the  leader 
bending  low  his  head,  and  placing  both  his  arms  about  the  neck 
of  the  chief  in  such  a  manner  that  his  wands  crossed,  he  mur 
mured  some  words  in  his  ear  which  seemed  to  be  of  pleasing 
import.  Each  of  the  others  did  the  same  thing  to  the  chief, 
who  took  his  stand  first  on  the  east,  then  on  the  south,  then  on 
the  west,  and  lastly  on  the  north  of  the  little  grove  through 
which  the  three  pranced,  muttering  a  jumble  of  sounds  which  I 
cannot  reproduce,  but  which  sounded  for  all  the  world  like  the 
chant  of  the  "  Hooter"  of  the  Zunis  at  their  Feast  of  Fire.  This 
terminated  the  great  "medicine"  ceremony  of  the  night,  and 
the  glad  shouts  of  the  Apaches  testified  that  the  incantations 
of  their  spiritual  advisers  or  their  necromancy,  whichever  it  was, 
promised  a  successful  campaign. 

Captain  Crawford,  whose  services,  both  in  pursuit  of  hostile 
Apaches  and  in  efforts  to  benefit  and  civilize  those  who  had  sub 
mitted,  had  won  for  him  the  respect  and  esteem  of  every  manly 
man  in  the  army  or  out  of  it  who  had  the  honor  of  knowing  him, 


DEATH   OF  CAPTAIN  CRAWFORD.  471 

met  his  death  at  or  near  Nacori,  Sonora,  Mexico,  January  11, 
1886,  under  peculiarly  sad  and  distressing  circumstances.  These 
are  narrated  by  General  Crook  in  the  orders  announcing  Craw 
ford's  death,  of  which  the  following  is  an  extract : 

"  Captain  Crawford,  with  the  zeal  and  gallantry  which  had  always  distin 
guished  him,  volunteered  for  the  arduous  and  thankless  task  of  pursuing  the 
renegade  Chiricahua  Apaches  to  their  stronghold  in  the  Sierra  Madre,  Mexico, 
and  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  ex 
peditions  organized  for  this  purpose.  In  the  face  of  the  most  discouraging 
obstacles,  he  had  bravely  and  patiently  followed  in  the  track  of  the  rene 
gades,  being  constantly  in  the  field  from  the  date  of  the  outbreak  in  May  last 
to  the  day  of  his  death. 

*'  After  a  march  of  eighteen  hours  without  halt  in  the  roughest  conceiva 
ble  country,  he  had  succeeded  in  discovering  and  surprising  their  rancheria 
in  the  lofty  ranges  near  the  Jarras  River,  Sonora.  Everything  belonging  to 
the  enemy  fell  into  our  hands,  and  the  Chiricahuas,  during  the  fight,  sent  in 
a  squaw  to  beg  for  peace.  All  arrangements  had  been  made  for  a  confer 
ence  next  morning.  Unfortunately,  a  body  of  Mexican  irregular  troops  at 
tacked  Captain  Crawford's  camp  at  daybreak,  and  it  was  while  endeavoring 
to  save  the  lives  of  others  that  Crawford  fell. 

"His  loss  is  irreparable.  It  is  unnecessary  to  explain  the  important  nature 
of  the  services  performed  by  this  distinguished  soldier.  His  name  has  been 
prominently  identified  with  most  of  the  severest  campaigns,  and  with  many 
of  the  severest  engagements  with  hostile  Indians,  since  the  close  of  the  War 
of  the  Rebellion,  in  which  also,  as  a  mere  youth,  he  bore  a  gallant  part." 

The  irregular  troops  of  the  Mexicans  were  Tarahumari  Indi 
ans,  almost  as  wild  as  the  Apaches  themselves,  knowing  as  little 
of  morality  and  etiquette,  the  mortal  enemies  of  the  Apaches 
for  two  hundred  years.  While  it  is  probable  that  their  statement 
may  be  true,  and  that  the  killing  of  Crawford  was  unpremedi 
tated,  the  indignities  afterwards  heaped  upon  Lieutenant  Maus, 
who  succeeded  Crawford  in  command,  and  who  went  over  to  visit 
the  Mexican  commander,  did  not  manifest  a  very  friendly  spirit. 
The  Government  of  Mexico  was  in  as  desperate  straits  as  our 
own  in  regard  to  the  subjugation  of  the  Chiricahua  Apaches, 
which  could  never  have  been  effected  without  the  employment 
of  just  such  wild  forces  as  the  Tarahumaris,  who  alone  would 
stand  up  and  fight  with  the  fierce  Chiricahuas,  or  could  trail 
them  through  the  mountains. 

"  Geronimo"  sent  word  that  he  would  come  in  and  surrender 
at  a  spot  he  would  designate.  This  was  the  "  Canon  de  los 
Embudos,"  in  the  northeast  corner  of  Sonora,  on  the  Arizona 


472          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

line.  From  Fort  Bowie,  Arizona,  to  the  "  Contrabandista " 
(Smuggler)  Springs,  in  Sonora,  is  eighty-four  miles,  following 
roads  and  trails  ;  the  lofty  mountain  ranges  are  very  much  bro 
ken,  and  the  country  is  decidedly  rough  except  along  the  road. 
There  are  a  number  of  excellent  ranches — that  of  the  Chiricahua 
Cattle  Company,  twenty-five  miles  out  from  Bowie  ;  that  of  the 
same  company  on  Whitewood  Creek,  where  we  saw  droves  of  fat 
beeves  lazily  browsing  under  the  shady  foliage  of  oak  trees  ;  and 
Joyce's,  or  Frank  Leslie's,  where  we  found  Lieutenant  Taylor 
and  a  small  detachment  of  Indian  scouts. 

The  next  morning  at  an  early  hour  we  started  and  drove  first 
to  the  camp  of  Captain  Allan  Smith,  Fourth  Cavalry,  with  whom 
were  Lieutenant  Erwin  and  Surgeon  Fisher.  Captain  Smith 
was  living  in  an  adobe  hut,  upon  whose  fireplace  he  had  drawn 
and  painted,  with  no  unskilled  hand,  pictures,  grave  and  comic, 
which  imparted  an  air  of  civilization  to  his  otherwise  uncouth 
surrounding.  Mr.  Thomas  Moore  had  preceded  General  Crook 
with  a  pack-train,  and  with  him  were  "Alchise,"  "  Ka-e-ten- 
na,"  a  couple  of  old  Chiricahua  squaws  sent  down  with  all  the 
latest  gossip  from  the  women  prisoners  at  Bowie,  Antonio  Besias 
and  Montoya  (the  interpreters),  and  Mr.  Strauss,  Mayor  of  Tuc 
son.  All  these  moved  forward  towards  the  "Contrabandista" 
Springs.  At  the  last  moment  of  our  stay  a  photographer,  named 
Fly,  from  Tombstone,  asked  permission  for  himself  and  his 
assistant — Mr.  Chase — to  follow  along  in  the  wake  of  the  column  ; 
and  still  another  addition,  and  a  very  welcome  one,  was  made  in 
the  person  of  Jose  Maria,  another  Spanish-Apache  interpreter, 
for  whom  General  Crook  had  sent  on  account  of  his  perfect 
familiarity  with  the  language  of  the  Chiricahuas. 

San  Bernardino  Springs  lie  twelve  miles  from  Silver  Springs, 
and  had  been  occupied  by  a  cattleman  named  Slaughter,  since 
General  Crook  had  made  his  expedition  into  the  Sierra  Madre. 
Here  I  saw  a  dozen  or  more  quite  large  mortars  of  granite,  of 
aboriginal  manufacture,  used  for  mashing  acorns  and  other  edi 
ble  nuts ;  the  same  kind  of  household  implements  are  or  were 
to  be  found  in  the  Green  Valley  in  the  northern  part  of  Arizona, 
and  were  also  used  for  this  same  purpose.  We  left  the  wheeled 
conveyances  and  mounted  mules  saddled  and  in  waiting,  and  rode 
over  to  the  "  Contrabandista/'  three  miles  across  the  boundary. 
Before  going  to  bed  that  night,  General  Crook  showed  "  Ka-e- 


"  KA-E-TEN-NA'S  "   ACCOMPLISHMENTS.  473 

ten-na"  a  letter  which  he  had  received  from  Lorenzo  Bonito,  an 
Apache  pupil  in  the  Carlisle  School.  "  Ka-e-ten-na  "  had  received 
one  himself,  and  held  it  out  in  the  light  of  the  fire,  mumbling 
something  which  the  other  Apaches  fancied  was  reading,  and  at 
which  they  marvelled  greatly  ;  but  not  content  with  this  proof  of 
travelled  culture,  "  Ka-e-ten-na  "  took  a  piece  of  paper  from  me, 
wrote  upon  it  in  carefully  constructed  school-boy  capitals,  and 
then  handed  it  back  to  me  to  read  aloud.  I  repressed  my  hilarity 
and  read  slowly  and  solemnly:  "MY  WIFE  HIM  NAME  KOW- 
TENNAYS  WIFE."  "  ONE  YEAR  HAB  TREE  HUN- 
NERD  SIXY-FIBE  DAY. "  "  Ka-e-ten-na  "  bore  himself  with 
the  dignity  and  complacency  of  a  Boston  Brahmin  ;  the  envy 
of  his  comrades  was  ill-concealed  and  their  surprise  undisguised. 
It  wasn't  in  writing  alone  that  "  Ka-e-ten-na •"  was  changed,  but 
in  everything  :  he  had  become  a  white  man,  and  was  an  apostle 
of  peace,  and  an  imitation  of  the  methods  which  had  made  the 
whites  own  such  a  "  rancheria  "  as  San  Francisco. 

The  next  morning  we  struck  out  southeast  across  a  country 
full  of  little  hills  of  drift  and  conglomerate,  passing  the  canons 
of  the  Guadalupe  and  the  Bonito,  the  former  dry,  the  latter 
flowing  water.  A  drove  of  the  wild  hogs  (peccaries  or  musk 
hogs,  called  "jabali"  by  the  Mexicans)  ran  across  our  path; 
instantly  the  scouts  took  after  them  at  a  full  run,  "Ka-e-ten-na" 
shooting  one  through  the  head  while  his  horse  was  going  at  full 
speed,  and  the  others  securing  four  or  five  more  ;  they  were  not 
eaten.  Approaching  the  Canon  de  los  Embudos,  our  scouts  sent 
up  a  signal  smoke  to  warn  their  comrades  that  they  were  coming. 
The  eyes  of  the  Apaches  are  extremely  sharp,  and  "Alchise/' 
(e  Mike,"  "  Ka-e-ten-na,"  and  others  had  seen  and  recognized  a 
party  of  horsemen  advancing  towards  us  for  a  mile  at  least 
before  Strauss  or  I  could  detect  anything  coming  out  of  the 
hills  :  they  were  four  of  our  people  on  horseback  riding  to  meet 
us.  They  conducted  us  to  Maus's  camp  in  the  Canon  de  los 
Embudos,  in  a  strong  position,  on  a  low  mesa  overlooking  the 
water,  and  with  plenty  of  fine  grass  and  fuel  at  hand.  The  sur 
rounding  country  was  volcanic,  covered  with  boulders  of  basalt, 
and  the  vegetation  was  the  Spanish  bayonet,  yucca,  and  other 
thorny  plants. 

The  rancheria  of  the  hostile  Chiricahuas  was  in  a  lava  bed, 
on  top  of  a  small  conical  hill  surrounded  by  steep  ravines, 


474          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

not  five  hundred  yards  in  direct  line  from  Maus,  but  having 
between  the  two  positions  two  or  three  steep  and  rugged  gulches 
which  served  as  scarps  and  counter-scarps.  The  whole  ravine 
was  romantically  beautiful  :  shading  the  rippling  water  were 
smooth,  white-trunked,  long,,  and  slender  sycamores,  dark  gnarly 
ash,  rough-barked  cottonwoods,  pliant  willows,  briery  buck 
thorn,  and  much  of  the  more  tropical  vegetation  already 
enumerated.  After  General  Crook  had  lunched,  "Geronimo" 
and  most  of  the  Chiricahua  warriors  approached  our  camp  ;  not 
all  came  in  at  once ;  only  a  few,  and  these  not  all  armed.  The 
others  were  here,  there,  and  everywhere,  but  all  on  the  qui  vim, 
apprehensive  of  treachery,  and  ready  to  meet  it.  Not  more  than 
half  a  dozen  would  enter  camp  at  the  same  time.  "  Geronimo" 
said  that  he  was  anxious  for  a  talk,  which  soon  took  place 
in  the  shade  of  large  cottonwood  and  sycamore  trees.  Those 
present  were  General  Crook,  Dr.  Davis,  Mr.  Moore,  Mr.  Strauss, 
Lieutenants  Maus,  Shipp,  and  Faison ;  Captain  Eoberts  and  his 
young  son  Charlie,  a  bright  lad  of  ten ;  Mr.  Daily  and  Mr. 
Carlisle,  of  the  pack-trains  ;  Mr.  Fly,  the  photographer,  and  his 
assistant,  Mr.  Chase  ;  packers  Shaw  and  Foster ;  a  little  boy, 
named  Howell,  who  had  followed  us  over  from  the  San  Bernar 
dino  ranch,  thirty  miles;  and  "Antonio  Besias,"  "Montoya," 
" Conception,"  "Jose  Maria/'  "Alchise,"  " Ka-e-ten-na," 
"Mike,"  and  others  as  interpreters. 

I  made  a  verbatim  record  of  the  conference,  but  will  condense 
it  as  much  as  possible,  there  being  the  usual  amount  of  repeti 
tion,  compliment,  and  talking  at  cross-purposes  incident  to  all 
similar  meetings.  "  Geronimo  "  began  a  long  disquisition  upon 
the  causes  which  induced  the  outbreak  from  Camp  Apache  : 
he  blamed  "Chato,"  "Mickey  Free/'  and  Lieutenant  Britton 
Davis,  who,  he  charged,  were  unfriendly  to  him  ;  he  was  told  by 
an  Indian  named  "  Nodiskay "  and  by  the  wife  of  "Mangas" 
that  the  white  people  were  going  to  send  for  him,  arrest  and  kill 
him  ;  he  had  been  praying  to  the  Dawn  (Tapida)  and  the  Dark 
ness,  to  the  Sun  (Chigo-na-ay)  and  the  Sky  (Yandestan),  and  to 
Assunutlije  to  help  him  and  put  a  stop  to  those  bad  stories  that 
people  were  telling  about  him  and  which  they  had  put  in  the 
papers.  (The  old  chief  was  here  apparently  alluding  to  the  de 
mand  made  by  certain  of  the  southwestern  journals,  at  the  time 
of  his  surrender  to  Crook  in  1883,  that  he  should  be  hanged.) 


"GERONIMO'S"  LYING  SPEECH.  475 

"I  don't  want  that  any  more;  when  a  man  tries  to  do  right, 
such  stories  ought  not  to  be  put  in  the  newspapers.  What  is 
the  matter  that  you  [General  Crook]  don't  speak  to  me?  It 
would  be  better  if  you  would  speak  to  me  and  look  with  a  pleas 
ant  face ;  it  would  make  better  feeling ;  I  would  be  glad  if  you 
did.  Fd  be  better  satisfied  if  you  would  talk  to  me  once  in  a 
while.  Why  don't  you  look  at  me  and  smile  at  me  ?  I  am  the 
same  man ;  I  have  the  same  feet,  legs,  and  hands,  and  the  Sun 
looks  down  on  me  a  complete  man  ;  I  wish  you  would  look  and 
smile  at  me.  The  Sun,  the  Darkness,  the  Wiuds,  are  all  listen 
ing  to  what  we  now  say.  To  prove  to  you  that  I  am  now  telling 
you  the  truth,  remember  I  sent  you  word  that  I  would  come  from 
a  place  far  away  to  speak  to  you  here,  and  you  see  me  now.  Some 
have  come  on  horseback  and  some  on  foot ;  if  I  were  thinking 
bad  or  if  I  had  done  bad,  I  would  never  have  come  here.  If  it 
had  been  my  fault  would  I  have  come  so  far  to  talk  with  you  ?" 
He  then  expressed  his  delight  at  seeing  "  Ka-e-ten-na"  once 
more  :  he  had  lost  all  hope  of  ever  having  that  pleasure ;  that 
was  one  reason  why  he  had  left  Camp  Apache. 

GENERAL  CROOK  :  "  I  have  heard  what  you  have  said.  It  seems 
very  strange  that  more  than  forty  men  should  be  afraid  of  three  ; 
but  if  you  left  the  reservation  for  that  reason,  why  did  you  kill 
innocent  people,  sneaking  all  over  the  country  to  do  it?  What 
did  those  innocent  people  do  to  you  that  you  should  kill  them, 
steal  their  horses,  and  slip  around  in  the  rocks  like  coyotes  ? 
What  had  that  to  do  with  killing  innocent  people  ?  There  is 
not  a  week  passes  that  you  don't  hear  foolish  stories  in  your  own 
camp  ;  but  you  are  no  child — you  don't  have  to  believe  them. 
You  promised  me  in  the  Sierra  Madre  that  that  peace  should 
last,  but  you  have  lied  about  it.  When  a  man  has  lied  to  me 
once,  I  want  some  better  proof  than  his  own  word  before  I  can 
believe  him  again.  Your  story  about  being  afraid  of  arrest  is  all 
bosh  ;  there  were  no  orders  to  arrest  you.  You  sent  up  some  of 
your  people  to  kill  '  Chato 9  and  Lieutenant  Davis,  and  then  you 
started  the  story  that  they  had  killed  them,  and  thus  you  got  a 
great  many  of  your  people  to  go  out.  Everything  that  you  did 
on  the  reservation  is  known  ;  there  is  no  use  for  you  to  try  to  talk 
nonsense.  I  am  no  child.  You  must  make  up  your  minds  whether 
you  will  stay  out  on  the  war-path  or  surrender  unconditionally. 
If  you  stay  out  I'll  keep  after  you  and  kill  the  last  one  if  it  takes 


476          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

fifty  years.  You  are  making  a  great  fuss  about  seeing  '  Ka-e- 
ten-na ' ;  over  a  year  ago,  1  asked  you  if  you  wanted  me  to  bring 
( Ka-e-ten-na'  back,  but  you  said  'no.'  It's  a  good  thing  for 
you,  '  Geronimo/  that  we  didn't  bring  *  Ka-e-ten-na 9  back,  because 
'  Ka-e-ten-na'  has  more  sense  now  than  all  the  rest  of  the  Chiri- 
cahuas  put  together.  You  told  me  the  same  sort  of  a  story  in 
the  Sierra  Madre,  but  you  lied.  What  evidence  have  I  of  your 
sincerity  ?  How  do  I  know  whether  or  not  you  are  lying  to  me  ? 
Have  I  ever  lied  to  you  ?  I  have  said  all  I  have  to  say  5  you  had 
better  think  it  over  to-night  and  let  me  know  in  the  morning." 

Daring  this  conference  "  Geronimo  "  appeared  nervous  and 
agitated ;  perspiration,  in  great  beads,  rolled  down  his  temples 
and  over  his  hands  ;  and  he  clutched  from  time  to  time  at  a 
buckskin  thong  which  he  held  tightly  in  one  hand.  Mr.  Fly, 
the  photographer,  saw  his  opportunity,  and  improved  it  fully  :  he 
took  "  shots  "  at  "  Geronimo  "  and  the  rest  of  the  group,  and 
with  a  (i nerve"  that  would  have  reflected  undying  glory  on  a 
Chicago  drummer,  coolly  asked  "  Geronimo  "  and  the  warriors 
with  him  to  change  positions,  and  turn  their  heads  or  faces,  to 
improve  the  negative.  None  of  them  seemed  to  mind  him  in  the 
least  except  "  Chihuahua,"  who  kept  dodging  behind  a  tree,  but 
was  at  last  caught  by  the  dropping  of  the  slide.  Twenty-four 
warriors  listened  to  the  conference  or  loitered  within  ear-shot ; 
they  were  loaded  down  with  metallic  ammunition,  some  of  it  re 
loading  and  some  not.  Every  man  and  boy  in  the  band  wore 
two  cartridge-belts.  The  youngsters  had  on  brand-new  shirts, 
such  as  are  made  and  sold  in  Mexico,  of  German  cotton,  and 
nearly  all — young  or  old — wore  new  parti-colored  blankets,  of 
same  manufacture,  showing  that  since  the  destruction  of  the  vil 
lage  by  Crawford,  in  January,  they  had  refitted  themselves  either 
by  plunder  or  purchase. 

Mr.  Strauss,  Mr.  Carlisle,  "  Jose  Maria,"  and  I  were  awakened 
at  an  early  hour  in  the  morning  (March  26,  1886),  and  walked 
over  to  the  rancheria  of  the  Chiricahuas.  "  Geronimo "  was 
already  up  and  engaged  in  an  earnest  conversation  with  "  Ka-e- 
ten-na  "  and  nearly  all  his  warriors.  We  moved  from  one  "  jacal " 
to  another,  all  being  constructed  alike  of  the  stalks  of  the  Span 
ish  bayonet  and  mescal  and  amole,  covered  with  shreds  of  blan 
ket,  canvas,  and  other  textiles.  The  "daggers"  of  the  Spanish 
bayonet  and  mescal  were  arranged  around  each  "  jacal "  to  form 


THE  CHIRICAHUA  RANCHERIA.  477 

an  impregnable  little  citadel.  There  were  not  more  than  twelve 
or  fifteen  of  these  in  the  "  rancheria,"  which  was  situated  upon 
the  apex  of  an  extinct  crater,  the  lava  blocks  being  utilized  as 
breastworks,  while  the  deep  seams  in  the  contour  of  the  hill 
were  so  many  fosses,  to  be  crossed  only  after  rueful  slaughter  of 
assailants.  A  full  brigade  could  not  drive  out  that  little  garri 
son,  provided  its  ammunition  and  repeating  rifles  held  out. 
They  were  finely  armed  with  Winchesters  and  Springfield  breech- 
loading  carbines,  with  any  quantity  of  metallic  cartridges. 

Physically,  the  Ohiricahuas  were  in  magnificent  condition  : 
every  muscle  was  perfect  in  development  and  hard  as  adamant, 
and  one  of  the  young  men  in  a  party  playing  monte  was  as  finely 
muscled  as  a  Greek  statue.  A  group  of  little  boys  were  romping 
freely  and  carelessly  together ;  one  of  them  seemed  to  be  of  Irish 
and  Mexican  lineage.  After  some  persuasion  he  told  Strauss  and 
myself  that  his  name  was  Santiago  Mackin,  captured  at  Mimbres, 
New  Mexico  ;  he  seemed  to  be  kindly  treated  by  his  young  com 
panions,  and  there  was  no  interference  with  our  talk,  but  he  was 
disinclined  to  say  much  and  was  no  doubt  thoroughly  scared. 
Beyond  showing  by  the  intelligent  glance  of  his  eyes  that  he 
fully  comprehended  all  that  was  said  to  him  in  both  Spanish  and 
English,  he  took  no  further  notice  of  us.  He  was  about  ten 
years  old,  slim,  straight,  and  sinewy,  blue-gray  eyes,  badly 
freckled,  light  eyebrows  and  lashes,  much  tanned  and  blistered 
by  the  sun,  and  wore  an  old  and  once-white  handkerchief  on  his 
head  which  covered  it  so  tightly  that  the  hair  could  not  be  seen. 
He  was  afterwards  returned  to  his  relations  in  New  Mexico. 

One  of  the  Chiricahuas  had  a  silver  watch  which  he  called 
t(  Chi-go-na-ay  "  (Sun),  an  evidence  that  he  had  a  good  idea  of  its 
purpose.  Nearly  every  one  wore  "  medicine  "  of  some  kind  : 
either  little  buckskin  bags  of  the  Hoddentin  of  the  Tule,  the 
feathers  of  the  red-bird  or  of  the  woodpecker,  the  head  of  a 
quail,  the  claws  of  a  prairie  dog,  or  silver  crescents  ;  ee  medicine  " 
cords — "  Izze-kloth  " — were  also  worn.  I  stopped  alongside  of  a 
young  Tubal  Cain  and  watched  him  hammering  a  Mexican  dollar 
between  two  stones,  and  when  he  had  reduced  it  to  the  proper 
fineness  he  began  to  stamp  and  incise  ornamentation  upon  it  with 
a  sharp-pointed  knife  and  a  stone  for  a  hammer.  Nearly  all  the 
little  girls  advanced  to  the  edge  of  our  camp  and  gazed  in  mute 
admiration  upon  Charlie  Eoberts,  evincing  their  good  opinion  in 


478          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

such  an  unmistakable  manner  that  the  young  gentleman  at  once 
became  the  guy  of  the  packers.  "  Geronimo  "  and  his  warriors 
remained  up  in  their  village  all  day,  debating  the  idea  of  an  un 
conditional  surrender. 

The  next  morning  (March  27th)  "Chihuahua"  sent  a  secret 
message  to  General  Crook,  to  say  that  he  was  certain  all  the  Chiri- 
cahuas  would  soon  come  in  and  surrender  ;  but  whether  they  did  or 
not,  he  would  surrender  his  own  band  at  noon  and  come  down  into 
our  camp.  "  Ka-e-ten-na  "  and  "  Alchise  "  had  been  busy  at  work 
among  the  hostiles,  dividing  their  councils,  exciting  their  hopes, 
and  enhancing  their  fears ;  could  General  Crook  have  promised 
them  immunity  for  the  past,  they  would  have  come  down  the 
previous  evening,  when  "  Chihuahua  "  had  first  sent  word  of  his 
intention  to  give  up  without  condition,  but  General  Crook  did  not 
care  to  have  "  Chihuahua"  leave  the  hostiles  at  once  ;  he  thought 
he  oould  be  more  useful  by  remaining  in  the  village  for  a  day  or 
two  as  a  leaven  to  foment  distrust  of  "  Geronimo  "  and  start  ;i 
disintegration  and  demoralization  of  the  band.  "  Ka-e-ten-na" 
told  General  Crook  that  all  the  previous  night  "  Geronimo  " 
kept  his  warriors  ready  for  any  act  of  treachery  on  our  part,  and 
that  during  the  talk  of  the  25th  they  were  prepared  to  shoot  the 
moment  an  attempt  should  be  made  to  seize  their  leaders.  It 
was  scarcely  noon  when  "Geronimo,"  "Chihuahua,"  "Nachita," 
"Kutli,"  and  one  other  buck  came  in  and  said  they  wanted 
to  talk.  "  Nane  "  toddled  after  them,  but  he  was  so  old  and 
feeble  that  we  did  not  count  him.  Our  people  gathered 
under  the  sycamores  in  the  ravine,  while  "  Geronimo  "  seated 
himself  under  a  mulberry,  both  he  and  "  Kutli  "  having  their 
faces  blackened  with  pounded  galena,  "  Chihuahua  "  spoke  as 
follows  :  "  I  am  very  glad  to  see  you,  General  Crook,  and  have 
this  talk  with  you.  It  is  as  you  say  :  we  are  always  in  danger  out 
here.  I  hope  that  from  this  on  we  may  live  better  with  our  fami 
lies,  and  not  do  any  more  harm  to  anybody.  I  am  anxious  to  behave. 
I  think  that  the  Sun  is  looking  down  upon  me,  and  the  Earth  is 
listening.  I  am  thinking  better.  It  seems  to  me  that  I  have  seen 
the  one  who  makes  the  rain  and  sends  the  winds,  or  he  must  have 
sent  you  to  this  place.  I  surrender  myself  to  you,  because  I  be 
lieve  in  you  and  you  do  not  deceive  us.  You  must  be  our  God  ; 
I  am  satisfied  with  all  that  you  do.  You  must  be  the  one  who 
makes  the  green  pastures,  who  sends  the  rain,  who  commands 


"CHIHUAHUA'S"   SPEECH.  479 

the  winds.  You  must  be  the  one  who  sends  the  fresh  fruits  that 
come  on  the  trees  every  year.  There  are  many  men  in  the  world 
who  are  big  chiefs  and  command  many  people,  but  you,  I  think, 
are  the  greatest  of  them.  all.  I  want  you  to  be  a  father  to  me 
and  treat  me  as  your  son.  I  want  you  to  have  pity  on  me.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  all  you  do  is  right,  because  all  you  say  is  true.  I 
trust  in  all  you  say  ;  you  do  not  deceive  ;  all  the  things  you  tell  us 
are  facts.  I  am  now  in  your  hands.  I  place  myself  at  your  dis 
position  to  dispose  of  as  you  please.  I  shake  your  hand.  I  want 
to  come  right  into  your  camp  with  my  family  and  stay  with  you. 
I  don't  want  to  stay  away  at  a  distance.  I  want  to  be  right  where 
you  are.  I  have  roamed  these  mountains  from  water  to  water. 
Never  have  I  found  the  place  where  I  could  see  my  father  or 
mother  until  to-day.  I  see  you,  my  father.  I  surrender  to  you 
now,  and  I  don't  want  any  more  bad  feeling  or  bad  talk.  I  am 
going  over  to  stay  with  you  in  your  camp. 

"  Whenever  a  man  raises  anything,  even  a  dog,  he  thinks  well  of 
it,  and  tries  to  raise  it  up,  and  treats  it  well.  So  I  want  you  to 
feel  towards  me,  and  be  good  to  me,  and  don't  let  people  say  bad 
things  about  me.  Now  I  surrender  to  you  and  go  with  you. 
When  we  are  travelling  together  on  the  road  or  anywhere  else, 
I  hope  you'll  talk  to  me  once  in  a  while.  I  think  a  great  deal 
of  '  Alchise '  and  '  Ka-e-ten-na ' ;  they  think  a  great  deal  of 
me.  I  hope  some  day  to  be  all  the  same  as  their  brother. 
[Shakes  hands.]  How  long  will  it  be  before  I  can  live  with 
these  friends  ?" 

Despatches  were  sent  ahead  to  Bowie  to  inform  General  Sheri 
dan  of  the  conference  and  its  results  ;  the  Chiricahuas  had  con 
sidered  three  propositions  :  one,  their  own,  that  they  be  allowed 
to  return  to  the  reservation  unharmed  ;  the  second,  from  General 
Crook,  that  they  be  placed  in  confinement  for  a  term  of  years  at 
a  distance  from  the  Agency,  and  that,  if  their  families  so  desired, 
they  be  permitted  to  accompany  them,  leaving  "Nane,v  who  was 
old  and  superannuated,  at  Camp  Apache ;  or,  that  they  return  to 
the  war-path  and  fight  it  out.  "Mangas,"  with  thirteen  of  the 
Chiricahuas,  six  of  them  warriors,  was  not  with  "Geronimo," 
having  left  him  some  months  previously  and  never  reunited  with 
him.  He  (General  Crook)  asked  that  instructions  be  sent  him 
with  as  little  delay  as  possible. 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

THE  EFFECTS  OF  BAD  WHISKEY  UPON  SAYAGE  INDIANS — THE 
WRETCH  TBIBOLLET — SOME  OF  THE  CHIBICAHUAS  SLIP  AWAY 
FKOM  MAUS  DUKING  A  EAINY  NIGHT — THE  BURIAL  OF  CAP 
TAIN  CRAWFORD — CROOK'S  TERMS  DISAPPROVED  IN  WASH 
INGTON — CROOK  ASKS  TO  BE  RELIEVED  FROM  COMMAND  IN 
ARIZONA — "GERONIMO"  INDUCED  TO  COME  IN  BY  THE 
CHIRICAHUA  AMBASSADORS,  "KI-E-TA"  AND  "MARTINEZ" 
— TREACHERY  SHOWN  IN  THE  TREATMENT  OF  THE  WELL- 
BEHAVED  MEMBERS  OF  THE  CHIRICAHUA  APACHE  BAND. 

"  A  LCHISE"and  "Ka-e-ten-na"  came  and  awakened  Gen- 
-£-*-  eral  Crook  before  it  was  yet  daylight  of  March  28th  and 
informed  him  that  "  Nachita,"  one  of  the  Chiricahua  chiefs,  was 
so  drunk  he  couldn't  stand  up  and  was  lying  prone  on  the  ground ; 
other  Chiricahuas  were  also  drunk,  but  none  so  drunk  as 
"Nachita."  Whiskey  had  been  sold  them  by  a  rascal  named 
Tribollet  who  lived  on  the  San  Bernardino  ranch  on  the  Mexican 
side  of  the  line,  about  four  hundred  yards  from  the  boundary. 
These  Indians  asked  permission  to  take  a  squad  of  their  soldiers 
and  guard  Tribollet  and  his  men  to  keep  them  from  selling  any 
more  of  the  soul-destroying  stuff  to  the  Chiricahuas.  A  beauti 
ful  commentary  upon  the  civilization  of  the  white  man  !  When 
we  reached  Cajon  Bonito,  the  woods  and  grass  were  on  fire ;  four 
or  five  Chiricahua  mules,  already  saddled,  were  wandering  about 
without  riders.  Pretty  soon  we  came  upon  "  Geronimo," 
"  Kuthli,"  and  three  other  Chiricahua  warriors  riding  on  two 
mules,  all  drunk  as  lords.  It  seemed  to  me  a  great  shame  that 
armies  could  not  carry  with  them  an  atmosphere  of  military  law 
which  would  have  justified  the  hanging  of  the  wretch  Tribollet 
as  a  foe  to  human  society.  Upon  arriving  at  San  Bernardino 
Springs,  Mr.  Frank  Leslie  informed  me  that  he  had  seen  this 
man  Tribollet  sell  thirty  dollars'  worth  of  mescal  in  less  than  one 
hour — all  to  Chiricahuas — and  upon  being  remonstrated  with,  the 


EFFECTS  OF  BAD    WHISKEY  ON    THE  INDIANS.        481 

wretch  boasted  that  he  could  have  sold  one  hundred  dollars' 
worth  that  day  at  ten  dollars  a  gallon  in  silver.  That  night, 
during  a  drizzling  rain,  a  part  of  the  Chiricahuas — those  who 
had  been  drinking  Tribollet's  whiskey — stole  out  from  Maus's 
camp  and  betook  themselves  again  to  the  mountains,  frightened, 
as  was  afterward  learned,  by  the  lies  told  them  by  Tribollet 
and  the  men  at  his  ranch.  Two  of  the  warriors  upon  sober 
ing  up  returned  voluntarily,  and  there  is  no  doubt  at  all  that, 
had  General  Crook  not  been  relieved  from  the  command  of  the 
Department  of  Arizona,  he  could  have  sent  out  runners  from 
among  their  own  people  and  brought  back  the  last  one  without 
a  shot  being  fired.  Before  being  stampeded  by  the  lies  and 
vile  whiskey  of  wicked  men  whose  only  mode  of  livelihood  was 
from  the  vices,  weaknesses,  or  perils  of  the  human  race,  all  the 
Chiricahuas — drunk  or  sober — were  in  the  best  of  humor  and 
were  quietly  herding  their  ponies  just  outside  of  Maus's  camp. 
"  Chihuahua,"  and  the  eighty  others  who  remained  with  Maus, 
reached  Fort  Bowie  on  the  second  day  of  April,  1886,  under 
command  of  Lieutenant  Faison,  Lieutenant  Maus  having  started 
in  pursuit  of  "  Geronimo,"  and  followed  him  for  a  long  distance, 
but  unsuccessfully.  As  " Chihuahua"  and  his  people  were 
coming  into  Bowie,  the  remains  of  the  gallant  Captain  Emmet 
Crawford  were  en  route  to  the  railroad  station  to  be  transported 
to  Nebraska  for  interment.  Every  honor  was  shown  them  which 
could  indicate  the  loving  tenderness  of  comrades  who  had  known 
Crawford  in  life,  and  could  not  forget  his  valor,  nobleness,  and 
high-minded  character.  General  Crook,  Colonel  Beaumont, 
Lieutenant  Keal,  and  all  other  officers  present  at  the  post 
attended  in  a  body.  Two  companies  of  the  First  Infantry, 
commanded,  respectively,  by  Captain  Markland  and  Lieutenant 
Benjamin,  formed  the  escort  for  one-half  the  distance — seven 
miles  ;  they  then  turned  over  the  casket  to  the  care  of  two 
companies  of  the  Eighth  Infantry,  commanded  by  Captain  Savage 
and  Lieutenant  Smiley.  The  detachment  of  Apache  scouts, 
commanded  by  Lieutenant  Macdonald,  Fourth  Cavalry,  was 
drawn  up  in  line  at  the  station  to  serve  as  a  guard  of  honor ; 
and  standing  in  a  group,  with  uncovered  heads,  were  the  officers 
and  soldiers  of  the  Eighth  Infantry,  Second  and  Fourth  Cavalry, 
there  on  duty — Whitney,  Porter,  Surgeon  E.  H.  White,  Ames, 
Betts,  Worth,  Hubert,  and  many  others. 
31 


482          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

Having  been  detailed,  in  company  with  Captain  Charles  Mor 
ton,  Third  Cavalry,  to  conduct  the  remains  to  the  city  of 
Kearney,  Nebraska,  and  there  see  to  their  interment,  my  official 
relations  with  the  Department  of  Arizona  terminated.  I  will 
insert,  from  the  published  official  correspondence  of  General 
Crook,  a  few  extracts  to  throw  a  light  upon  the  history  of  the 
Chiricahuas.  Lieutenant  Macdonald  informed  me,  while  at 
Bowie,  that  the  "medicine  men"  present  with  his  Indian 
scouts  had  been  dancing  and  talking  with  the  spirits,  who  had 
responded  that  "Geronimo"  would  surely  return,  as  he  had 
been  stampeded  while  drunk,  and  by  bad  white  men.  Under 
date  of  March  30,  1886,  General  Sheridan  telegraphed  to  Crook  : 

"You  are  confidentially  informed  that  your  telegram  of  March  29th  is 
received.  The  President  cannot  assent  to  the  surrender  of  the  hostiles  on  the 
terms  of  their  imprisonment  East  for  two  years,  with  the  understanding  of 
their  return  to  the  reservation.  He  instructs  you  to  enter  again  into  nego 
tiations  on  the  terms  of  their  unconditional  surrender,  only  sparing  their 
lives.  In  the  meantime,  and  on  the  receipt  of  this  order,  you  are  directed  to 
take  every  precaution  against  the  escape  of  the  hostiles,  which  must  not  be 
allowed  under  any  circumstances.  You  must  make  at  once  such  disposition 
of  your  troops  as  will  insure  against  further  hostilities,  by  completing  the 
destruction  of  the  hostiles,  unless  these  terms  are  acceded  to." 

General  Crook's  reply  to  the  Lieutenant-General  read  as 
follows  : 

"  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  scouts  were  thoroughly  loyal,  and  would 
have  prevented  the  hostiles  leaving  had  it  been  possible.  When  they  left 
their  camp  with  our  scouts,  they  scattered  over  the  country  so  as  to  make 
surprise  impossible,  and  they  selected  their  camp  with  this  in  view,  nor  would 
they  all  remain  in  camp  at  one  time.  They  kept  more  or  less  full  of  mescal. 
To  enable  you  to  clearly  understand  the  situation,  it  should  be  remembered 
that  the  hostiles  had  an  agreement  with  Lieutenant  Maus  that  they  were  to 
be  met  by  me  twenty-five  miles  below  the  line,  and  that  no  regular  troops 
were  to  be  present.  While  I  was  very  averse  to  such  an  arrangement,  I  had 
to  abide  by  it  as  it  had  already  been  entered  into.  We  found  them  in  a 
camp  on  a  rocky  hill  about  five  hundred  yards  from  Lieutenant  Maus,  in  such 
a  position  that  a  thousand  men  could  not  have  surrounded  them  with  any 
possibility  of  capturing  them.  They  were  able,  upon  the  approach  of  any 
enemy  being  signalled,  to  scatter  and  escape  through  dozens  of  ravines  and 
caSons  which  would  shelter  them  from  pursuit  until  they  reached  the  higher 
ranges  in  the  vicinity.  They  were  armed  to  the  teeth,  having  the  most 
improved  arms  and  all  the  ammunition  they  could  carry.  Lieutenant  Maus 
with  Apache  scouts  was  camped  at  the  nearest  point  the  hostiles  would  agree 
to  his  approaching.  Even  had  I  been  disposed  to  betray  the  confidence  they 


CROOK'S  TERMS  DISAPPROVED.  483 

placed  in  me  it  would  have  been  simply  an  impossibility  to  get  white  troops 
to  that  point  either  by  day  or  by  night  without  their  knowledge,  and  had  I 
attempted  to  do  this  the  whole  band  would  have  stampeded  back  to  the 
mountains.  So  suspicious  were  they  that  never  more  than  from  five  to  eight 
of  the  men  came  into  our  camp  at  one  time,  and  to  have  attempted  the  arrest 
of  those  would  have  stampeded  the  others  to  the  mountains." 

General  Crook  also  telegraphed  that  ' '  to  inform  the  Indians 
that  the  terms  on  which  they  surrendered  are  disapproved  would, 
in  my  judgment,  not  only  make  it  impossible  for  me  to  negotiate 
with  them,  but  result  in  their  scattering  to  the  mountains,  and  I 
can't  at  present  see  any  way  to  prevent  it." 

Sheridan  replied  : 

"I  do  not  see  what  you  can  now  do  except  to  concentrate  your  troops  at 
the  best  points  and  give  protection  to  the  people.  Geronimo  will  undoubt 
edly  enter  upon  other  raids  of  murder  and  robbery,  and  as  the  offensive  cam 
paign  against  him  with  scouts  has  failed,  would  it  not  be  best  to  take  up  the 
defensive,  and  give  protection  to  the  business  interests  of  Arizona  and  New 
Mexico?" 

Crook's  next  despatch  to  Sheridan  said  : 

"  It  has  been  my  aim  throughout  present  operations  to  afford  the  greatest 
amount  of  protection  to  life  and  property  interests,  and  troops  have  been  sta 
tioned  accordingly.  Troops  cannot  protect  property  beyond  a  radius  of  one 
half  mile  from  camp.  If  offensive  operations  against  the  Indians  are  not 
resumed,  they  may  remain  quietly  in  the  mountains  for  an  indefinite  time 
without  crossing  the  line,  and  yet  their  very  presence  there  will  be  a  constant 
menace,  and  require  the  troops  in  this  department  to  be  at  all  times  in  posi 
tion  to  repel  sudden  raids  ;  and  so  long  as  any  remain  out  they  will  form  a 
nucleus  for  disaffected  Indians  from  the  different  agencies  in  Arizona  and 
New  Mexico  to  join.  That  the  operations  of  the  scouts  in  Mexico  have  not 
proved  so  successful  as  was  hoped  is  due  to  the  enormous  difficulties  they 
have  been  compelled  to  encounter,  from  the  nature  of  the  Indians  they  have 
been  hunting,  and  the  character  of  the  country  in  which  they  have  operated, 
and  of  which  persons  not  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  character  of  both 
can  have  no  conception.  I  believe  that  the  plan  upon  which  I  have  conducted 
operations  is  the  one  most  likely  to  prove  successful  in  the  end.  It  may  be, 
however,  that  I  am  too  much  wedded  to  my  own  views  in  this  matter,  and  as 
I  have  spent  nearly  eight  years  of  the  hardest  work  of  my  life  in  this  depart 
ment,  I  respectfully  request  that  I  may  now  be  relieved  from  its  command. " 

General  Crook  had  carefully  considered  the  telegrams  from 
his  superiors  in  Washington,  and  was  unable  to  see  how  he 
could  allow  Indians,  or  anybody  else,  to  enter  his  camp  under 
assurances  of  personal  safety,  and  at  the  same  time  "take  every 


484          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

precaution  against  escape/'  Unless  he  treacherously  murdered 
them  in  cold  blood,  he  was  unable  to  see  a  way  out  of  the 
dilemma ;  and  Crook  was  not  the  man  to  lie  to  any  one  or  deal 
treacherously  by  him.  If  there  was  one  point  in  his  character 
which  shone  more  resplendent  than  any  other,  it  was  his  abso 
lute  integrity  in  his  dealings  with  representatives  of  inferior 
races  :  he  was  not  content  with  telling  the  truth,  he  was  careful 
to  see  that  the  interpretation  had  been  so  made  that  the  Indians 
understood  every  word  and  grasped  every  idea  ;  and  all  his 
remarks  were  put  down  in  black  and  white,  which,  to  quote  his 
own  words,  "would  not  lie,  and  would  last  long  after  the  con 
ferees  had  been  dead  and  buried." 

The  whole  subject  of  the  concluding  hours  of  the  campaign 
against  the  Chiricahuas,  after  Crook  had  been  relieved  from 
command,  has  been  fully  covered  by  documents  accessible  to  all 
students,  among  which  may  well  be  mentioned  :  Senate  Docu 
ments,  No.  117;  General  Crook's  "Resume  of  Operations  against 
Apache  Indians  from  1882  to  1886";  the  report  made  by  Mr. 
Herbert  Welsh,  Secretary  of  the  Indian  Rights  Association,  of 
his  visit  to  the  Apache  prisoners  confined  at  Fort  Marion,  St. 
Augustine,  Florida  ;  the  reports  made  to  General  Sheridan  by 
General  R.  B.  Ayres,  commanding  the  military  post  of  St.  Fran 
cis  Barracks  (St.  Augustine,  Florida) ;  the  telegrams  between 
the  War  Department  and  Brigadier-General  D.  S.  Stanley,  com 
manding  the  Department  of  Texas,  concerning  his  interview  with 
"  Geronimo  "  and  other  prisoners,  etc. 

It  may  be  laid  down  in  one  paragraph  that  the  Chiricahua 
fugitives  were  followed  into  the  Sierra  Madre  by  two  Chiricahua 
Apaches,  sent  from  Fort  Apache,  named  "Ki-e-ta"  and  "  Marti 
nez,"  who  were  assisted  by  Lieutenant  Gatewood,  of  the  Sixth 
Cavalry,  and  Mr.  George  Wrattan,  as  interpreter.  JSTot  all  the 
band  surrendered ;  there  are  several  still  in  the  Sierra  Madre 
who,  as  late  as  the  past  month  of  January  (1891),  have  been 
killing  in  both  Sonora  and  Arizona.  But  those  that  did  listen  to 
the  emissaries  were  led  to  believe  that  they  were  to  see  their 
wives  and  families  within  five  days ;  they  were  instead  hurried 
off  to  Florida  and  immured  in  the  dungeons  of  old  Fort  Pickens, 
Pensacola,  Florida,  and  never  saw  their  families  until  the  indig 
nant  remonstrances  of  Mr.  Herbert  Welsh  caused  an  investigation 
to  be  made  of  the  exact  terms  upon  which  they  had  surrendered, 


TREACHERY  TO  WELL-BEHAVED  INDIANS.  485 

and  to  have  their  wives  sent  to  join  them.  For  "Geronimo"  and 
those  with  him  any  punishment  that  could  be  inflicted  without 
incurring  the  imputation  of  treachery  would  not  be  too  severe  ; 
but  the  incarceration  of  "  Chato  "  and  the  three-fourths  of  the 
band  who  had  remained  faithful  for  three  years  and  had  ren 
dered  such  signal  service  in  the  pursuit  of  the  renegades,  can 
never  meet  with  the  approval  of  honorable  soldiers  and  gentle 
men. 

Not  a  single  Chiricahua  had  been  killed,  captured,  or  wounded 
throughout  the  entire  campaign — with  two  exceptions — unless 
by  Chiricahua-Apache  scouts  who,  like  "  Chafco,"  had  kept  the 
pledges  given  to  General  Crook  in  the  Sierra  Madre  in  1883.  The 
exceptions  were:  one  killed  by  the  White  Mountain  Apaches  near 
Fort  Apache,  and  one  killed  by  a  white  man  in  northern  Mexico. 
Yet  every  one  of  those  faithful  scouts — especially  the  two,  "Ki- 
e-ta  "  and  "  Martinez,"  who  had  at  imminent  personal  peril  gone 
into  the  Sierra  Madre  to  hunt  up  ' *  Geronimo  "  and  induce  him 
to  surrender — were  transplanted  to  Florida  and  there  subjected 
to  the  same  punishment  as  had  been  meted  out  to  "Geronimo." 
And  with  them  were  sent  men  like  ' '  Goth-kli "  and  "  To- 
klanni,"  who  were  not  Chiricahuas  at  all,  but  had  only  lately 
married  wives  of  that  band,  who  had  never  been  on  the  war-path 
in  any  capacity  except  as  soldiers  of  the  Government,  and  had 
devoted  years  to  its  service.  There  is  no  more  disgraceful  page 
in  the  history  of  our  relations  with  the  American  Indians  than 
that  which  conceals  the  treachery  visited  upon  the  Chiricahuas 
who  remained  faithful  in  their  allegiance  to  our  people.  An 
examination  of  the  documents  cited  will  show  that  I  have  used 
extremely  mild  language  in  alluding  to  this  affair. 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

CROOK'S  CLOSING  YEARS — HE  AVERTS  A  WAR  WITH  THE  UTES — 
A  MEMBER  OF  THE  COMMISSION  WHICH  SECURED  A  CESSION 
OF  ELEVEN  MILLIONS  OF  ACRES  FROM  THE  SIOUX — HIS  IN 
TEREST  IN  GAME  LAWS — HIS  DEATH — WHAT  THE  APACHES 
DID — WHAT  "RED  CLOUD  "  SAID — HIS  FUNERAL  IN  CHICAGO 
— BURIAL  IN  OAKLAND,  MARYLAND — RE-INTERMENT  IN 
ARLINGTON  CEMETERY,  VIRGINIA. 

npHE  last  years  of  General  Crook's  eventful  career  were  spent 
-L  in  Omaha,  Nebraska,  as  Commanding  General  of  the  De 
partment  of  the  Platte,  and,  after  being  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
Major-General  by  President  Cleveland,  in  Chicago,  Illinois,  as 
Commanding  General  of  the  Military  Division  of  the  Missouri. 
During  that  time  he  averted  the  hostilities  with  the  Utes  of  Col 
orado,  for  which  the  cowboys  of  the  western  section  of  that  State 
were  clamoring,  and  satisfied  the  Indians  that  our  people  were 
not  all  unjust,  rapacious,  and  mendacious.  As  a  member  of  the 
Sioux  Commission  to  negotiate  for  the  cession  of  lands  occupied 
by  the  Sioux  in  excess  of  their  actual  needs,  he — in  conjunction 
with  his  associates  :  ex-Governor  Charles  Foster,  of  Ohio,  and 
Hon.  "William  "Warner,  of  Missouri — effected  the  relinquishment 
of  eleven  millions  of  acres,  an  area  equal  to  one-third  of  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  failure  of  Congress  to  ratify  some  of  the  provisions  of  this 
conference  and  to  make  the  appropriations  needed  to  carry  them 
into  effect,  has  been  alleged  among  the  numerous  causes  of  the 
recent  Sioux  outbreak.  In  this  connection  the  words  of  the 
Sioux  chief  "  Red  Cloud,"  as  spoken  to  the  Catholic  missionary 
— Father  Craft — are  worthy  of  remembrance  :  "  Then  General 
Crook  came  ;  he,  at  least,  had  never  lied  to  us.  His  words  gave 
the  people  hope.  He  died.  Their  hope  died  again.  Despair 
came  again."  General  Crook  also  exerted  all  the  influence  he 
could  bring  to  bear  to  induce  a  rectification  of  the  wrong  inflicted 


DEATH  OP  THE  GENERAL.  487 

upon  the  faithful  Chiricahua  Apaches,  in  confounding  them  in 
the  same  punishment  meted  out  to  those  who  had  followed 
"  Geronimo  "  back  to  the  war-path.  He  manifested  all  through 
his  life  the  liveliest  interest  in  the  preservation  of  the  larger 
game  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  country,  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  had 
some  instrumentality,  through  his  old  friend  Judge  Carey,  of 
Cheyenne,  now  United  States  Senator,  in  bringing  about  the 
game  laws  adopted  by  the  present  State  of  Wyoming. 

General  Crook's  death  occurred  at  the  Grand  Pacific  Hotel,  his 
residence  in  Chicago,  on  the  21st  of  March,  1890  ;  the  cause  of 
his  death,  according  to  Surgeon  McClellan,  his  attending  physi 
cian,  was  heart  failure  or  some  other  form  of  heart  disease  ;  the 
real  cause  was  the  wear  and  tear  of  a  naturally  powerful  consti 
tution,  brought  on  by  the  severe  mental  and  physical  strain  of 
incessant  work  under  the  most  trying  circumstances. 

It  would  be  unjust  to  select  for  insertion  here  any  of  the 
thousands  of  telegrams,  letters,  resolutions  of  condolence,  and 
other  expressions  of  profound  sympathy  received  by  Mrs.  Crook 
from  old  comrades  and  friends  of  her  illustrious  husband  in  all 
sections  of  our  country  :  besides  the  official  tribute  from  the 
War  Department,  there  were  eloquent  manifestations  from  such 
associations  as  the  Alumni  of  the  Military  Academy,  the  Military 
Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion,  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution, 
the  Pioneers  of  Arizona,' the  citizens  of  Omaha,  Nebraska,  Pres- 
cott,  Arizona,  Chicago,  Illinois,  Dayton,  Ohio,  and  other  places 
in  which  he  had  served  during  the  thirty-eight  years  of  his  con 
nection  with  the  regular  army,  and  feeling  expressions  uttered  in 
the  United  States  Senate  by  Manderson  and  Paddock  of  Nebraska, 
Gorman  of  Maryland,  and  Mitchell  of  Oregon  ;  and  a  kind  tribute 
from  the  lips  of  Governor  James  E.  Boyd  of  Nebraska.  When 
the  news  of  Crook's  death  reached  the  Apache  Reservation,  the 
members  of  the  tribe  who  had  been  his  scouts  during  so  many 
years  were  stupefied  :  those  near  Camp  Apache  sat  down  in  a 
great  circle,  let  down  their  hair,  bent  their  heads  forward  on 
their  bosoms,  and  wept  and  wailed  like  children.  Probably  no 
city  in  the  country  could  better  appreciate  the  importance  of 
Crook's  military  work  against  the  savages  than  Omaha,  which 
through  the  suppression  of  hostilities  by  General  Crook  had 
bounded  from  the  dimensions  of  a  straggling  town  to  those  of  a 
metropolis  of  150,000  people.  The  resolutions  adopted  in  con- 


488          ON  THE  BORDER  WITH  CROOK. 

vention  represent  the  opinions  of  a  committee  composed  of  the 
oldest  citizens  of  that  community — men  who  knew  and  respected 
Crook  in  life  and  revered  him  in  death.  Among  these  were  to 
be  seen  the  names  of  old  settlers  of  the  stamp  of  the  Wakeleys, 
Paxtons,  Pritchetts,  Doanes,  Millers,  Cowins,  Clarkes,  Markels, 
Wymans,  Horbachs,  Hanscoms,  Collins,  Lakes,  Millards,  Popple- 
tons,  Caldwells,  Broatches,  Mauls,  Murphys,  Rustins,  Woods, 
Davis,  Laceys,  Turners,  Ogdens,  Moores,  Cushings,  Kitchens, 
Kimballs,  Yates,  Wallaces,  Riehardsons,  McShanes,  and  Kountzes 
— men  perfectly  familiar  with  all  the  intricacies  of  the  problem 
which  Crook  had  to  solve  and  the  masterly  manner  in  which 
he  had  solved  it. 

As  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  his  former  friend  and 
commander,  General  John  R.  Brooke,  commanding  the  Depart 
ment  of  the  Platte,  has  protected  and  fed  in  honorable  retire 
ment  the  aged  mule,  "  Apache/'  which  for  so  many  years  had 
borne  General  Crook  in  all  his  campaigns,  from  British  America 
to  Mexico. 

Could  old  " Apache"  but  talk  or  write,  he  might  relate  ad 
ventures  and  perils  to  which  the  happy  and  prosperous  dwell 
ers  in  the  now  peaceful  Great  West  would  listen  with  joy  and 
delight. 

General  Crook  had  not  yet  attained  great  age,  being  scarcely 
sixty-one  years  old  when  the  final  summons  came,  but  he  had 
gained  more  than  a  complement  of  laurels,  and  may  therefore  be 
said  to  have  died  in  the  fulness  of  years.  He  was  born  at  Dayton, 
Ohio,  on  the  23d  day  of  September,  1829 ;  graduated  from  the 
United  States  Military  Academy  in  the  class  of  1852;  was 
immediately  assigned  to  the  Fourth  Infantry  ;  was  engaged  with 
out  cessation  in  service  against  hostile  Indians,  in  the  present 
States  of  Oregon  and  Washington,  until  the  outbreak  of  the 
Rebellion,  and  was  once  wounded  by  an  arrow  which  was  never 
extracted.  His  first  assignment  during  the  War  of  the  Rebellion 
was  to  the  colonelcy  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Ohio,  which  he  drilled 
to  such  a  condition  of  efficiency  that  the  other  regiments  in  the 
same  division  nick  named  it  the  "  Thirty-sixth  Regulars/'  Be 
fore  the  war  ended  he  had  risen  to  the  rank  of  brigadier  and  of 
major-general  of  volunteers,  and  was  wounded  in  the  battle  of 
Lewisburgh,  West  Virginia. 

He  commanded  the  Army  of  West  Virginia,  and  later  on  was 


THE  FUNERAL.  489 

assigned  to  the.  command  of  cavalry  under  Lieutenant-General 
P.  H.  Sheridan.  His  services  during  the  war  were  of  the  most 
gallant  and  important  nature,  not  at  all  inferior  to  his  campaigns 
against  the  western  tribes,  but  it  was  of  the  latter  only  that 
this  treatise  was  intended  to  speak  and  to  these  it  has  been 
restricted. 

The  funeral  services  were  held  at  the  Grand  Pacific  Hotel, 
where  the  remains  had  lain  in  state.  The  Eev.  Dr.  MacPher- 
son  conducted  the  services,  assisted  by  Doctors  Clinton  Locke, 
Fallows,  Thomas,  and  Swing.  The  honorary  pall-bearers  were 
Colonel  James  F.  Wade,  Fifth  Cavalry,  Colonel  Thaddeus  H. 
Stanton,  Pay  Department,  John  Collins,  Omaha,  General  W. 
Sooy  Smith,  Potter  Palmer,  ex-President  E.  B.  Hayes,  Marshall 
Field,  W.  C.  De  Grannis,  Wirt  Dexter,  Colonel  J.  B.  Sexton, 
Judge  E.  S.  Tuthill,  Mayor  D.  C.  Cregier,  John  B.  Drake, 
General  M.  E.  Morgan,  General  Eobert  Williams,  P.  E.  Stude- 
baker,  J.  Frank  Lawrence,  George  Dunlap,  Judge  W.  Q.  Gresham, 
John  B.  Carson,  General  W.  E.  Strong,  John  M.  Clark,  W. 
Penn  Nixon,  H.  J.  MacFarland,  and  C.  D.  Eoys.  The  casket 
was  escorted  to  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Eailroad  Depot  by  a 
brigade  of  the  Illinois  National  Guard,  commanded  by  Briga 
dier-General  Fitzsimmons  and  by  the  members  of  the  Illinois 
Club  in  a  body. 

The  interment,  which  took  place  at  Oakland,  Maryland,  March 
24,  1891,  was  at  first  intended  to  be  strictly  private,  but  thou 
sands  of  people  had  gathered  from  the  surrounding  country,  and 
each  train  added  to  the  throng  which  blocked  the  streets  and 
lanes  of  the  little  town. 

Among  those  who  stood  about  the  bereaved  wife,  who  had  so 
devotedly  followed  the  fortunes  of  her  illustrious  husband,  were 
her  sister,  Mrs.  Eeed,  Colonel  Corbin,  Colonel  Heyl,  Colonel 
Stanton,  Major  Randall,  Major  Roberts,  Lieutenant  Kennon, 
Mr.  John  S.  Collins,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  J.  Hancock,  Mr.  Webb 
C.  Hayes,  Andrew  Peisen,  who  had  been  the  General's  faith 
ful  servant  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  Dr.  E.  H.  Bartlett, 
who  had  been  present  at  the  wedding  of  General  and  Mrs.  Crook. 

One  of  the  General's  brothers — Walter  Crook,  of  Dayton,  Ohio 
— came  on  with  the  funeral  train  from  Chicago,  but  another 
brother  was  unable  to  leave  Chicago  on  account  of  a  sudden  fit 
of  illness. 


B 


RIEF  LIST  OF  BOOKS  ON  TRAVEL, 
EXPLORATION  AND  ADVENTURE,  PUBLISHED 
BY  CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS,  743  &  745 
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Rev.  James  Bassett. 

PERSIA;  The  Land  of  the  Imams    (With  Map.     I2mo,  $1.50). 

"  Scarcely  inferior,  in  general  interest,  to  O'Donovan's  "  Merv,"  or  Stech's 
two  volumes  on  Persia,  and  superior  to  either  in  interest  for  a  reader  con 
cerned  in  the  evangelization  of  the  country.  His  pages  are  crowded  with 
facts  and  replete  with  indications  of  intelligent  observations  and  natural 
interpretations.  We  have  not  found  a  dull  page  in  it.  It  is  a  small  book 
with  much  in  it,  and  that  much  good. — New  York  Independent. 

Capt.  John  G.  Bourke. 

THE  SNAKE  DANCE  OF  THE  MOQUIS  OF  ARIZONA.  With  a  Description  of  the 
Manners  and  Customs  of  this  Peculiar  People  (With  Colored  Plates.  8vo,  $5.00.) 

"A  valuable  contribution  to  the  study  of  native  American  ethnology, 
while  its  vivid  descriptions  of  weird  scenes,  stirring  incidents  of  travel,  and 
characteristic  anecdotes,  make  it  very  agreeable  reading." — London  Academy. 

William  T.  Brigbam. 

GUATEMALA;  The  Land  of  the  Quetzal  (With  26  full-page  Illustrations.     8vo,  $5.00.) 

"  Mr.  Brigham  made  a  very  extensive  trip  through  Guatemala,  and  he 
brought  to  all  that  met  his  eye  a  trained  intelligence  which  detected  everything, 
revealed  and  promised.  He  discerned  and  comprehended  much  more  than 
any  of  the  natives  have  divined  or  hoped  for,  and  his  book  is  the  only  one 
extant  in  any  language  which  discloses  what  the  Guatemalan  Republic  is  or 
might  be." — New  York  Sun. 

Henry  W.  Elliott. 

OUR  ARCTIC  PROVINCE,  ALASKA  AND  THE   SEAL   ISLANDS  (Illust.     8vo,  $4.50.) 

"  Nothing  so  complete  and  satisfactory  has  ever  before  appeared  in  print  in 
this  country  as  this  absorbingly  interesting  and  minutely  accurate  account  of 
the  great  Alaskan  Seal  Islands,  and  the  book  must  now  be  regarded  as  the 
standard  authority  on  '  Our  Arctic  Province/  " — Chicago  Herald. 

Rev.  Henry  M.  Field,  D.D. 

FROM  THE  LAKES  OF  KILLARNEY  TO  THE  GOLDEN  HORN  (8vo,  $2.00). 
FROM  EGYPT  TO  JAPAN  (8vo,  $2.00).  ON  THE  DESERT  (8vo,  $2.00). 
AMONG  THE  HOLY  HILLS  (With  a  Map.  8vo,  $1.50).  THE  GREEK  ISLANDS,  and 
Turkey  after  the  War  (With  Illustrations  and  Maps.  8vo,  $1.50).  OLD  SPAIN  AND 
NEW  SPAIN  (With  Map.  8vo.  $1.50).  BRIGHT  SKIES  AND  DARK  SHADOWS 
(With  Maps.  8vo,  $1.50).  GIBRALTAR  (Illustrated.  4to,  $2.00). 

"Dr.  Field  has  an  eye  that  sees  very  clearly.  He  knows  also  how  to 
describe  just  those  things  in  the  different  places  visited  by  him  which  an 
intelligent  man  wants  to  know  about.  He  has,  besides,  a  singularly  clear  and 
pleasing  style,  so  that  the  attention  of  his  reader  is  never  for  a  moment 
detained  over  any  obscurity  or  infelicity  of  expression,  but  is  at  once  rewarded 
by  the  clear  perception  of  his  meaning, — Dr.  Wm.  M.  Taylor. 


2  BRIEF    LIST    OF    BOOKS    ON    TRAVEL,    Etc. 

Henry  T.  Finch. 

THE  PACIFIC  COAST  SCENIC  TOUR  (With  20  full-page  Illustrations.  8vo,  $2.50). 
SPAIN  AND  MOROCCO;  Studies  in  Local  Color  (I2mo,  $1.25.) 

"  The  writer  combines  very  happily  the  faculty  of  close  observation  and 
minute  description  with  real  literary  skill.  Thus  while  his  book  contains 
details  which  make  it  eminently  useful  and  a  source  of  exact  information,  it 
is  also  a  pleasurable  work  for  the  reader." — The  Christian  Union. 

James  Anthony  Froude. 

THE  ENGLISH  IN  THE  WEST  INDIES  (Illustrated.  8vo,  $1.75).  OCEANA:  England 
and  Her  Colonies  (Illustrated.  8vo,  $1.75.) 

"  Mr.  Froude  is  the  master  of  an  exquisite  prose  style,  and  if  not  a  foremost 
master  he  is  very  near  to  that  rank  among  living  Englishmen.  Not  since 
'  Eothen  '  captivated  all  its  readers,  not  since  Waterton  narrated  the  story  of 
his  wanderings,  has  the  romance  of  travel  been  treated  with  happier,  abler, 
or  more  entertaining  hands." — New  York  Times. 

William  H.  Gilder. 

SCHWATKA'S  SEARCH  (Illustrated.  8vo,  $3.00).  ICEPACK  AND  TUNDRA 
(Illustrated.  8vo.  $4.00.) 

"  No  recent  book  gives  so  vivid  an  idea  of  the  perils  and  hardships  which 
necessarily  accompany  all  attempts  at  arctic  exploration,  as  this  of  Mr. 
Gilder's.  The  accounts  of  the  people  of  the  various  places  visited,  and  their 
peculiar  customs,  show  keen  powers  of  observation  as  well  as  skill  of 
description. " — Boston  Transcript. 

Gen.    A.  W.  Greely. 

THREE  YEARS  OF  ARCTIC  SERVICE.  An  Account  of  the  Lady  Franklin  Bay  Expedi 
tion  of  1881-1884  (With  over  100  Illustrations,  Maps,  and  Charts.  2  vols.,  8vo).  Sold 
only  by  subscription. 

"  In  every  respect — the  interest  of  the  narrative,  the  fullness  and  accuracy 
of  the  departments  of  ethnology,  of  natural  history,  of  meteorology,  geology, 
auroral  displays,  of  all  matters  of  scientific  interest  — this  work  is  incomparably 
the  most  valuable  one  on  the  subject  ever  published." — Chicago  Interior. 

William  Elliot  Griffls. 

COREA;  THE  HERMIT  NATION  (With  Maps  and  Illustrations.     8vo,  $2.50.) 

"  The  work  bears  witness  to  a  vast  amount  of  well  directed  labor  ;  and 
while  it  is  clothed  with  a  rare  charm  for  the  general  reader,  whose  curiosity 
regarding  a  long  isolated  nation  will  for  the  first  time  be  satisfied,  it  is  also 
sure  of  a  respectful  and  grateful  reception  from  the  student  of  history,  ethno 
logy,  and  philology. — New  York  Sun. 

William  T.  Hornaday. 

TWO  YEARS  IN  A  JUNGLE  (New  Edition.  8vo,  $3.00.)  TAXIDERMY  AND 
~OOLOGICAL  COLLECTING  (Illustrated.  8vo,  $2.50  net.) 

"  He  describes  with  skill  and  fidelity.  Here  we  have  the  hunter's  sport, 
the  naturalist's  descriptions,  and  the  traveler's  observations.  We  need  not 
say  that  the  combination  is  rare  and  very  inviting  — Chicago  Interior. 


BRIEF    LIST    OF    BOOKS    ON    TRAVEL,    Etc.  3 

A.  J.  Mount  eney-Jepbson. 

EMIN  PASHA  AND  THE  REBELLION  AT  THE  EQUATOR  (8vo).    Sold  only  by  subscription. 

"  You  have  commenced  your  story  where  a  great  gap  occurred  in  my  own 
narrative,  a  gap  which  you  alone  could  fill  up.  There  is  within  the  covers  of 
your  volume  much  matter  that  is  quite  new  to  me,  much  that  is  extremely 
thrilling  and  exciting,  and  the  whole  is  related  with  very  enviable  literary  tact 
and  skill.  With  all  my  heart  I  commend  to  American  and  English  readers 
this  true  tale  of  work  manfully  and  nobly  done  and  so  modestly  told." 

— Henry  M.  Stanley. 

Carl  Lumbolt^. 

AMONG  CANNIBALS  (Fully  Illustrated.     8vo,  $5.00.) 

"  We  have  all  read  the  book  with  immense  interest.  It  is  a  work  which 
will  have  a  very  long  life,  for  it  is  full  of  wisdom  and  useful  knowledge  ; 
besides,  it  represents  everything  so  lively  before  the  reader's  eyes  that  he 
forgets  he  is  reading  a  mere  description,  and  thinks  he  is  at  the  author's  side, 
and  shares  with  him  the  hardships,  dangers,  and  joys  of  a  life  among  cannibals 
in  the  wilderness  of  Australia.  The  whole  civilized  world  must  be  grateful 
to  you  for  this  really  wonderful  work." — Dr.  Henry  Schliemann. 

Selab  Merrill. 

EAST  OF  THE  JORDAN  (With  Illustrations  and  Map.      New  Edition,  8vo,  $2.50.) 

No  other  American  is  so  much  at  home  in  the  East  Jordan  country  as  Mr. 
Merrill,  and  there  does  not  exist  in  any  other  language  so  much  fresh  and 
valuable  information  respecting  it.  The  illustrations  which  embellish  the 
book  are  fresh  and  original,  and  the  style  of  the  narrative  is  graphic  and 
entertaining.  The  work  is  exceedingly  interesting  as  an  account  of  explora 
tion  in  this  field,  rich  in  historic  associations. 

William  Agnew  Pat  on. 

DOWN  THE  ISLANDS    (Illustrated.     Square  8vo,  $2.50.) 

"An  exceedingly  entertaining  book  of  travels,  containing  nearly  seventy 
illustrations,  including  sixteen  full-page  plates.  Mr.  Paton  relates  what  he 
has  seen  in  the  Windward  Islands,  from  St.  Kitt's  to  Trinidad,  and  with  this 
he  interweaves  a  vast  amount  of  official  and  historical  information,  yet  without 
making  the  book  a  formal  affair.  The  story  is  highly  romantic  and  makes 
good  reading." — Boston  Beacon. 

W.  S.  Scbley  and  Prof.  J.  R.  Soley. 

THE  RESCUE  OF  GREELY  (With  Maps  and  Illustrations.     8vo,  $2.00.) 

The  M-ork  has  been  singularly  well  done.  The  whole  story  is  told  in  plain 
facts,  plainly  and  intellectually  stated,  and  the  adjectives  are  few.  Rarely  is  a 
great  story  narrated  so  simply  and  yet  so  effectively." — Ar.  Y.  Times, 

Dr.  Henry  Scbliemann. 

ANCIENT    MYCEN/E    (Illustrated.      4to,    cloth    extra,    $7.50).      TIRYNS    (Illustrated. 
Royal  Cvo,  $10.00). 

"  Dr.  Schliemann  has  made  the  most  important  contribution  of  the  present 
century  to  Greek  archaeology." — 77?^  Nation.  "The  interest  of  the  work  is 
not  confined  to  either  England  or  America.  Every  enlightened  nation  will 
welcome  it,  for  it  opens  up  a  new  world  to  the  modern  generation.  No  work 
of  the  time  has  attracted  wider  attention. — Boston  Post. 


4  BRIEF    LIST    OF    BOOKS    ON    TRAVEL,    Etc. 

Eugene  Schuyler. 

TURKISTAN  (New  Edition.     2  vols.,  8vo,  $5.00.) 

"One  of  the  most  valuable  and  fascinating  of  publications.  The  author 
has  the  eye  and  pen  of  a  journalist,  and  sees  at  once  what  is  worth  seeing, 
and  recites  his  impressions  in  the  most  graphic  manner." — N.  Y.  World. 

Herbert  H.  Smith. 

BRAZIL;  THE  AMAZONS  AND  THE  COAST    (Illustrated.    8vo,  $5.00.) 

"  Mr.  Smith,  an  American  who  has  lived  and  traveled  for  the  greater  part 
of  eight  years  in  Brazil,  gives  so  excellent  an  account  of  that  country  that  we 
cannot  regret  this  addition  to  the  already  extensive  literature  of  the  subject. 
The  book  is  a  very  successful  attempt  to  present  a  comprehensive  picture, 
drawn  both  from  the  experience  of  the  author  and  from  that  of  previous 
Brazilian  and  foreign  writers,  of  the  present  state  of  Brazil." — London  Academy. 

Henry  M.  Stanley. 

IN  DARKEST  AFRICA  (With  Maps  and  Illustrations.  2  vols.,  8vo,  $7.50.)  Sold  only  by 
subscription.  HOW  I  FOUND  LIVINGSTONE.  (With  Maps  and  Illustrations.  8vo,  $3.50.) 

"  This  is  the  noblest  record  of  the  achievements  of  a  man  of  action  which 
this  generation  has  known.  Mr.  Stanley  writes  his  book  very  much  as  he 
marches  through  Africa — with  the  irresistible  energy  of  an  imperious  will. 
These  volumes  have  descriptive  passages  of  singular  excellence  ;  the  style  is 
trenchant,  vigorous  and  clear ;  and  the  literary  workmanship  is  markedly 
superior  to  that  of  any  of  his  previous  work. " — New  York  Tribune. 

Thomas  Stevens. 

AROUND  THE  WORLD  ON  A  BICYCLE    (200  Illustrations.     2  vols.,  8vo,  $8.00.) 

"  This  book  will  be  found  very  interesting.  All  wheelmen  will  want  to 
have  the  history  of  the  greatest  bicycle  journey  ever  accomplished  ;  the  lover 
of  adventure  will  find  it  richly  to  his  taste  ;  and  the  general  reader  will  find 
in  the  descriptions  of  persons,  places  and  customs  in  far-off  lands,  much  to 
please  and  interest." — The  Boston  Times. 

Bayard  Taylor. 

ILLUSTRATED  LIBRARY  OF  TRAVEL-TRAVELS  IN  JAPAN,  ARABIA,  SOUTH 
AFRICA,  CENTRAL  ASIA,  CENTRAL  AFRICA,  SIAM  (Six  volumes,  each  Illustrated. 
I2mo,  $1.25.) 

"Authenticated  accounts  of  countries,  peoples,  modes  of  living  and  being, 
curiosities  in  natural  history,  and  personal  adventure  in  travels  and  explora 
tions,  suggest  a  rich  fund  of  solid  instruction  combined  with  delightful 
entertainment.  The  editorship,  by  one  of  the  most  observant  and  well- 
traveled  men  of  modern  times,  at  once  secures  the  high  character  of  the 
'  Library  '  in  every  particular." — The  Sunday  School  Times. 

Edward  L.  Wilson. 

IN  SCRIPTURE  LANDS    (With  150  Illustrations  from  photographs.      Large  8vo,  $3.50.) 

"Here  we  have  a  man  with  the  courageous  spirit  of  an  explorer,  a  good 
pair  of  eyes,  a  good  camera,  and  a  good  literary  style.  We  have  seen  no 
work  of  exploration  and  travel  in  those  lands  which  gives  so  clear  an  idea  of 
them  and  of  the  historic  remains  and  scenes  as  this." — Chicago  Interior. 


